Martin Currie Portfolio Investment Trust Plc
Interim Management Statement - 1 August - 31 October 2010
Manager's commentary
Equity markets rallied strongly in the autumn. The trust's net asset value rose by 8.3% over the three months. Despite outperformance in both September and October, this was slightly behind the benchmark's 9.0% gain over the period.
The portfolio's performance was helped by two of our largest active positions, Weir Group and PT Astra International. Our private-equity investments, which have lagged in the recent rally, started to play catch-up towards the end of the period, but are still trading at wide discounts to their net asset values. We ended October with cash at 3% of assets.
Recently, macroeconomic uncertainty has focused on the cuts to public-sector spending in the UK, renewed fears over European sovereign debt, the US mid-term elections and the Federal Reserve's announcement on quantitative easing. No doubt the macro concerns will continue, perhaps in a different guise, but we are encouraged by generally good corporate earnings releases and the equity markets' ability to shrug off the slew of negative newspaper headlines.
Tom Walker
Profile
Objective To achieve long-term capital growth by investing in a diversified portfolio of UK and international stocks.
Benchmark FTSE All-Share index
Sector Global growth
Launch 1999
Portfolio
Asset class 31 Jul 31 Oct
Equities 88.7% 97.2%
Cash 11.3% 2.7%
Other - 0.1%
Borrowings - -
Equity allocation 31 Jul 31 Oct
United Kingdom 51.8% 56.3%
North America 18.6% 16.4%
Private equity 11.1% 10.5%
Continental Europe 8.7% 7.8%
Pacific Basin 7.6% 7.0%
Japan 2.2% 2.0%
Top 10 equity holdings (43.6% of total portfolio)
F&C Private Equity 8.9%
HSBC 6.7 %
BP 5.2%
British American Tobacco 4.2%
GlaxoSmithKline 3.9%
Rio Tinto 3.3%
Xstrata 3.1%
BHP Billiton 2.9%
BG Group 2.7%
AstraZeneca 2.7%
Number of countries 14
Number of holdings 55
Key facts
Net assets £144.7m
Share price (p) 119.3
Net asset value per share (p)* 129.6
Discount (premium) 7.9%
Estimated net yield 2.9%
*Following a recent review by the AIC, the NAV stated in our reporting is inclusive of current year revenue.
Performance
Discrete performance over 12 months to 31 October
|
2010 |
2009 2008 |
2007 |
2006 |
|
Share Price |
14.8% |
19.7% |
(30.4)% |
21.3% |
21.0% |
NAV |
15.8% |
21.3% |
(33.6)% |
22.8% |
20.9% |
Benchmark |
17.5% |
23.5% |
(34.4)% |
13.6% |
21.7% |
Cumulative performance over periods to 31 October 2010
One month |
Three months |
Six months |
One year |
Three years |
Five years |
|
Share Price |
2.1% |
5.7% |
(0.3%) |
14.8% |
(4.4%) |
40.3% |
NAV |
3.2% |
8.3% |
2.6% |
15.8% |
(6.8%) |
38.4% |
Benchmark |
2.5% |
9.0% |
4.2% |
17.5% |
(4.8%) |
31.6% |
Source: Martin Currie and Morningstar. Bid to bid basis with net income reinvested over the periods shown in sterling terms. These figures do not include the costs of buying and selling shares in an investment trust. If these were included, performance figures would be reduced.
Capital structure
Ordinary shares 111,631,427*
*Source: Martin Currie as at 31 October 2010.
Board of directors
Peter Berry (chairman)
Gillian Nott
David Kidd
Ben Thomson
Mike Balfour
Material events and transactions
During the period the company bought back 1,084,163 shares at a cost of £1.25m.
The interim dividend of 1.0p per share was declared and paid on 28 October 2010.
Following an audit tender process Ernst & Young resigned as auditor to the company and was replaced by PricewaterhouseCoopers - with effect from 11 October 2010.
Following the retirement in May this year of Douglas Kinloch Anderson, Gill Nott has been appointed as Chair of the Marketing and Communications Committee.
Key information
Year end 31 January
Annual general meeting May
Final dividend paid June
Interim dividend paid October
Annual management fee as at 31 January 2010† 0.5%
Total expense ratio 31 January 2010* 0.9%
Epic code MNP
Reuters code MNP.L
†Percentage of net assets.
*Percentage of shareholders' funds. Includes annual management and performance fees.
Website
The trust has its own website at www.martincurrieportfolio.com. There you will find further details about the trust, information on Martin Currie, daily share prices (and associated risks), and you can access regular webcasts by the manager.
Net asset value and dividend history
As at 31 January |
Share price |
NAV per share |
Discount/ (premium) |
Dividend per share |
2000 |
89.5p |
110.0p |
18.6% |
1.42p |
2001 |
101.0p |
115.7p |
12.7% |
1.47p |
2002 |
80.5p |
89.9p |
10.5% |
1.50p |
2003 |
57.8p |
65.1p |
11.2% |
1.55p |
2004 |
79.0p |
83.0p |
4.8% |
1.87p |
2005 |
85.0p |
91.5p |
7.1% |
1.99p* |
2006 |
109.0p |
116.9p |
6.8% |
2.20p |
2007 |
117.3p |
127.5p |
8.0% |
2.40p |
2008 |
124.3p |
134.8p |
7.8% |
2.60p |
2009 |
89.8p |
93.1p |
3.5% |
3.50p |
2010 |
113.5p |
122.2p |
7.1% |
3.50p |
*Plus special dividend of 1.61p.
Past performance is not a guide to future returns.