City of London Investment Trust PLC
08 May 2008
THE CITY OF LONDON INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
HENDERSON GLOBAL INVESTORS
8 MAY 2008
THE CITY OF LONDON INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
Interim Management Statement
Review of the period from 1 January 2008 to 31 March 2008
MATERIAL EVENTS OR TRANSACTIONS DURING THE PERIOD
Portfolio: during the period there was net investment of £4.6m and the number
of holdings in the portfolio increased from 97 to 100. The holdings in Fortum
and Imperial Tobacco were sold, as well as Scottish & Newcastle, which was
subject to a takeover. The portfolio includes six new stocks: AstraZeneca and
Novartis in the pharmaceutical sector, Inchcape and Marks & Spencer in the
General Retail sector, as well as Interserve and Misys.
Gearing: during the quarter gearing increased from 7% (at 31 December 2007) to
10% (at 31 March 2008).
Dividends: a third interim dividend of 2.96p per ordinary Share, in respect of
the year ending 30 June 2008, will be paid on 30 May 2008 to holders registered
on 25 April 2008.
Discount: the share price discount to net asset value (with debt at par value)
narrowed over the period from 14.4% to 6.0%.
Share Capital: during the quarter the Company bought back 83,893 ordinary
shares and 488,949 second preference stock at a cost of £692,532. The ordinary
shares are being held in treasury. The second preference stock was cancelled.
There are no other material events or transactions to report.
PERFORMANCE AND FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
Total Return Performance at 31 March 2008
3 months 1 year 3 years 5 years
Net Asset Value per ordinary share -10.4% -10.9% +32.4% +104.4%
FTSE All-Share Index - 4% capped * + -9.5% -8.1% +36.0% +110.0%
FTSE All-Share Index + -9.9% -7.7% +31.3% +98.7%
Average UK Growth & Income Investment Trust Net Asset
Value
-12.4% -13.7% +24.2% +101.7%
Sources: AIC Services Limited / * Datastream
+ since 1 July 2005 the benchmark is the total return of the FTSE All-Share
Index - adjusted for a maximum 4% cap for any single stock. Prior to this, it
was the total return of the FTSE All-Share Index.
Financial Position
at 31 March 2008 at 31 December 2007
Net assets £602m £686m
Net asset value 290.4p 327.4p
Ordinary share price 273.0p 280.3p
Discount 6.0% 14.4%
Gearing 10% 7%
Yield 4.00% 3.79%
Total Expense Ratio 0.44% 0.44%
THE PORTFOLIO
Top 10 Investments % of total assets % of total assets
at 31 March 2008 at 31 December 2007
Vodafone 5.0 Vodafone 5.1
BP 4.6 BP 4.9
British American Tobacco 4.6 British American Tobacco 4.7
HSBC 4.5 Royal Dutch Shell 4.3
Royal Dutch Shell 4.1 HSBC 4.1
Diageo 3.8 Diageo 3.9
GlaxoSmithKline 3.6 GlaxoSmithKline 3.7
BT 2.9 BT 3.1
Lloyds TSB 2.7 National Grid 2.9
Barclays 2.7 Scottish & Southern Energy 2.8
Top 10 = 38.5 39.5
Sector Breakdown % at 31 March 2008 % at 31 December 2007
Financials 22.7 22.6
Consumer Goods 17.3 18.1
Oil & Gas 10.9 11.6
Consumer Services 10.7 10.5
Industrials 9.8 8.9
Telecommunications 7.8 8.8
Utilities 7.7 8.6
Basic Materials 7.7 6.7
Health Care 4.8 4.0
Technology 0.6 0.2
The objective of The City of London Investment Trust plc is to provide long-term
growth in income and capital, principally by investment in UK equities. The
Manager is Henderson Global Investors Limited. Further information on the
Company, including a monthly factsheet and up to date NAV and share price
information, can be found at www.cityinvestmenttrust.com
For further information, please contact:
Job Curtis James de Sausmarez
Portfolio Manager Head of Investment Trusts
The City of London Investment Trust plc Henderson Global Investors
Telephone: 020 7818 4367 Telephone: 020 7818 3349
Sarah Gibbons-Cook
Investor Relations and PR Manager
Henderson Global Investors
Telephone: 020 7818 3198
- ENDS -
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
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