Final Results
JPMorgan Fleming Mercantile IT PLC
11 April 2007
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT
JPMORGAN FLEMING MERCANTILE INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
FINAL RESULTS
The Board of JPMorgan Fleming Mercantile Investment Trust plc is pleased to
announce the Company's results for the year ended 31st January 2007. Commenting
on the results, the Chairman has made the following statement:
CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT
The Company again benefited from the Investment Managers' stock selection and
asset allocation in particular and by being geared in the rising market. It is
pleasing to report that the investment managers have now outperformed their
benchmark index for seven consecutive years.
Earnings and Dividends
Earnings per share increased by 26.3% for the year, from 21.79p to 27.52p.
The Company has paid three interim dividends of 4.50p per ordinary share, and
the Directors have declared a fourth quarterly dividend of 11.50p. This gives a
total dividend of 25.00p for the year and represents an increase of
approximately 14.9%. It is the Board's intention to continue to operate a
progressive dividend policy and to increase the level of the first three
quarterly dividends for the current financial year.
Share Price Discount
The share price rose by 30.4% during the year and, including dividends paid, the
total return to shareholders was +33.1%. The discount to net asset value
narrowed during the year from 9.3% to 8.9% (with debt at fair value). The
average weekly discount with debt at fair value during the year was 9.7%.
Share Repurchases
At last year's Annual General Meeting shareholders gave the Directors authority
to repurchase up to 14.99% of the Company's ordinary shares for cancellation.
During the year a total of 7.4m shares were repurchased for cancellation at a
total cost of £75.7m. The Board continued to take a proactive approach towards
share repurchases in order to enhance the net asset value and minimise the
absolute level and volatility of the discount on the Company's shares. These
repurchases have added approximately 2.2 pence to the net asset value per share.
The Board is therefore proposing that the authority be renewed at the
forthcoming Annual General Meeting, as it remains an effective mechanism by
which to achieve the aims set out above.
Board
As I indicated in my statement last year Nicholas Berry and Simon Keswick are
retiring from the Board at the conclusion of the forthcoming AGM and will not be
standing for re-election. Lord Rothermere has also decided to retire from the
Board at the AGM due to the pressure of his other business commitments. All
three have served the Company with distinction over a number of years and I
would like to thank them on behalf of the Board for the contributions that they
have made to the success of the Company. In particular I would like to thank
Simon Keswick who served as Chairman for 13 years.
Richard Hambro was appointed a Director on 1st October 2006. He was a founder of
J O Hambro & Company and is Chairman of J O Hambro Investment Management, a
leading asset management company. Ian Russell was appointed to the Board on 1st
January 2007. He was formerly Chief Executive Officer of Scottish Power. Having
been appointed to the Board during the year, both will stand for re-election at
the forthcoming AGM and if appointed will be eligible to serve for a three year
term.
The Directors retiring by rotation are Sandy Nairn and myself. If re-elected,
Sandy Nairn will be eligible to serve for a further three year term. Having been
a Director for more than ten years, in accordance with the Board's policy, I
offer myself for re-election on an annual basis only.
Investment Managers
During the year the Company's investment management team was strengthened with
the addition of a third manager, Jane Lennard. James Soutter, who has assisted
Martin Hudson for the past three years, has decided to return home to Australia
for personal reasons. We wish him well for the future. His successor will be
appointed shortly.
Annual General Meeting
The Company's one hundred and twenty first Annual General Meeting will be held
at Trinity House, Tower Hill, London EC3N 4DH on Wednesday 16th May 2007 at
12.00 noon.
Outlook
The Board believes that UK small and mid cap companies continue to represent
good value. With sustained earnings growth combined with reasonable valuations,
continuing merger and acquisition activity and the Investment Managers'
consistent investment process, we believe that the Company can continue to
deliver positive returns to shareholders.
Hamish Leslie Melville
Chairman 11th April 2007
For further information, please contact:
Jonathan Latter
For and on behalf of
JPMorgan Asset Management (UK) Limited - Secretary
020 7742 6000
INVESTMENT MANAGERS' REPORT
The year to 31st January 2007 continued the trend of recent years, with the UK
market again generating positive returns for investors.
Market Background
In a pattern that resembled 2005, equity markets got off to a strong start in
2006 with the UK market posting positive returns in February, March and April
before a market correction in May wiped more than 10% off the off the value of
the mid and small cap market. The UK market bottomed in June, after which it
recovered and then continued to push higher for the remainder of the year. The
outcome for the year ended 31st January 2007 was that the Company's benchmark,
the FTSE All Share (excluding FTSE 100 constituents and investment trusts)
produced a total return of +24.3%, outperforming the return generated by the
FTSE 100 Index of +11.3%.
The outperformance of mid and smaller sized companies was once again driven by
the earnings of these companies outstripping analysts' forecasts, prompting
positive earnings revisions as analysts had to move their estimates higher in
response. The UK economy remained robust, delivering its 58th consecutive
quarter of GDP growth. However, a rise in the inflation rate did prompt the Bank
of England to raise interest rates three times from 4.5% to 5.25%.
Performance
The Company's net asset value total return of +30.2% for the year outperformed
the benchmark index return by +5.9%. The total return to shareholders was
+33.1%, as the share price discount to net asset value (with debt at fair value)
narrowed from 9.3% to 8.9% during the financial year.
The Company's overweight stance in the Travel & Leisure sector was the largest
contributor to performance. Within this sector, the Company was overweight in
hotel and pub companies, especially those with freehold property on the balance
sheet that we perceived as being undervalued. Companies which were rich in
freehold property assets were re-rated during the year as the market changed its
perception of how it should value such assets in the face of highly leveraged
corporate acquisitions backed by private equity. A bidding war for De Vere
Hotels started the year with AHG Venice winning a hotly contested process.
Further highlighting the asset backing of the sector was the unsuccessful bid
approach to Mitchells & Butlers. In addition, both Millennium & Copthorne and
The Hotel Corporation saw their share prices re-rated, reflecting their asset
backing. The theme of corporate mergers and acquisitions was evident in other
sectors, with Industrial Metals providing strong returns driven by the
recovering share price of Corus which has now agreed to be acquired by Tata
Steel Ltd of India. Throughout the year under review, the Company maintained an
underweight position relative to the benchmark in the Technology sectors, which
underperformed, but did make good gains in both CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio)
and Wolfson, which were sold during the year.
The worst performing sector within the portfolio was Media; holdings in SMG
(Scottish Media Group) and EMI underperformed as both companies disappointed on
earnings. General Financials was also a poor sector for the Company as we sold
the holding in the London Stock Exchange before bids from the NASDAQ sent the
shares considerably higher.
Activity
Throughout the year the gearing level was actively managed within a range of 0%
to 15% as market conditions changed during the year. We started the year with
gearing in the low teens, then through March and April reduced it to about 8% as
markets had performed very strongly and a number of companies that we owned were
promoted into the FTSE 100 due to their outperformance of the benchmark. These
were mainly mining or metal related stocks and included Corus, Vedanta, Lonmin
and Drax. With the market setback in May gearing was reduced to below 5% to
minimise losses. After the fall, valuations became far more compelling as
earnings growth was still exceeding analysts' expectations. We therefore moved
gearing back up towards 15% in late spring, before moving down towards mid
single digits at the end of the year, having reduced a number of asset backed
stocks such as Slough Estates, Whitbread and Northumbrian Water after very
strong performances.
Two themes within the UK market seem to have risen above others during the year,
these being the continuation of mergers and acquisitions and secondly, the
re-rating of asset backed companies. The Company benefited from takeover
activity with holdings such as De Vere, Cambridge Antibody and AWG being
acquired during the period and, as mentioned, the re-rating of asset-backed
companies led us to take profits in a number of hoteliers, pub companies,
utilities and real estate companies.
Within smaller companies, a number of new positions were taken where strong
growth characteristics were identified. Exposure to smaller real estate
companies was increased during the year with Rugby Estates, Development
Securities, Macau Property, Invista Real Estate, Northern European Properties
and Songbird Estates all being added to the portfolio. Elsewhere, we bought a
holding in Acertec and Avingtrans, both industrial metals processing companies,
Henry Boot, a construction and development company and Smiths News, the
newspaper distribution company. A number of new positions were opened in larger
former FTSE 100 companies where value characteristics were identified, including
Schroders, Daily Mail and General Trust and British Energy.
The Company maintained its overweight stance in larger mid sized companies where
compelling value opportunities were found, as well as its overweight position in
very small companies with attractive new technologies or growth prospects.
Currently the Company holds approximately 160 stocks, 90 of which are mid sized
and 70 smaller. By value, 85% of the portfolio is in mid sized stocks and 15% in
smaller stocks, which is close to the broad size split of the benchmark.
Of the ten largest holdings as at 31st January 2007, four were in the top ten
last year. Daily Mail and General Trust is a new holding, having been demoted
from the FTSE 100 during the year and GKN, Berkeley, Burberry, Amec and Bellway
were all held within the portfolio a year ago.
Currently just one holding, Persimmon, is in the FTSE 100 index, having been
promoted from the Mid 250. In all cases, we sell stocks which are promoted into
the FTSE 100 within 18 months of promotion, and never let the FTSE 100 holdings
in aggregate exceed 5% of the portfolio.
During the year we met or visited more than 250 companies and this remains a key
component in our process of evaluating companies. We believe that properly
targeted company meetings can help us to analyse smaller growth companies that
are often overlooked by the mainstream, evaluate managements and resolve issues.
Our fundamental analysis of companies is aided by our in-house proprietary
screening process which helps us to identify companies that exhibit both the
best value and the best growth characteristics.
Outlook
The year to 31st January 2007 generated strong returns for shareholders, with
small and mid sized companies once again outperforming their larger
counterparts. As in the previous year, earnings growth was higher than expected
by leading analysts, who on average had to increase their company earnings
forecasts. As at 31st January 2007 the Company's portfolio had a forward price
earnings ratio ('PER') of 14.0x, with earnings forecast to grow by analysts at
12.8% over the next year. This strong earnings growth combined with a reasonable
valuation is a platform from which mid and smaller UK companies can deliver
another year of positive returns.
When constructing the portfolio, we are constantly looking for both value and
growth opportunities within individual companies and this is reflected in the
portfolio aggregates: the portfolio has a lower PER than the benchmark, trading
on 14.0x versus 15.3x for the FTSE All Share (excluding the FTSE 100 and
investment trusts) and also exhibits more growth with 12.8% forecast compared
with 11.0% for the benchmark.
The Company maintains its largest overweight position in house builders, a
sector that we believe offers value and is well poised to continue its
outperformance. We believe there is scope for a further re-rating upwards from
the current PER's of 9 - 11x and that the asset backing in the form of the
companies' land banks is attractive, together with the strong cash generation
characteristics of the companies. Further, there is the structural argument of
undersupply of new housing, with the demographic picture of an ageing
population, immigration and fewer people getting married increasing demand. The
portfolio currently also has overweight positions in Real Estate and Media, and
underweight sectors include Support Services, Industrial Engineering and
Technology.
The UK economy remains robust; it is forecast to grow 2.5% in 2007 and although
inflation and interest rates have ticked up in the last 12 months, the UK
economic environment provides a stable platform from which companies can drive
earnings forward. This is reflected in the strong forecast earnings growth of
11% for mid and smaller companies, which are more geared into the fortunes of
the UK economy than FTSE 100 companies which generate the majority of their
earnings overseas. With this we are confident that the outlook remains positive,
as both growth and value opportunities exist within the mid and smaller
companies universe and these companies can continue to deliver positive returns
to shareholders.
Martin Hudson
Jane Lennard
Investment Managers 11th April 2007
JPMorgan Fleming Mercantile Investment Trust plc
Unaudited figures for the year ended 31st January 2007
Income Statement
(Unaudited) (Audited)
Year ended 31st January 2007 Year ended 31st January 2006
Revenue Capital Total Revenue Capital Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Gains on investments held at
fair value through profit or
loss - 377,824 377,824 - 345,308 345,308
Net foreign currency losses - (56) (56) - (3) (3)
Income from investments 42,099 - 42,099 37,617 - 37,617
Other interest receivable and
similar income 3,394 - 3,394 2,282 - 2,282
_______ ________ _______ _______ _______ _______
Gross return 45,493 377,768 423,261 39,899 345,305 385,204
Management fee (3,961) (3,961) (7,922) (3,264) (3,264) (6,528)
Other administrative expenses (821) - (821) (784) - (784)
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______ _______
Net return on ordinary
activities before finance
costs and taxation 40,711 373,807 414,518 35,851 342,041 377,892
Finance costs (5,668) (5,668) (11,336) (6,478) (6,478) (12,956)
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______ _______
Net return on ordinary
activities before taxation 35,043 368,139 403,182 29,373 335,563 364,936
Taxation - - - - - -
______ _______ _______ _______ _______ _______
Net return on ordinary
activities after taxation
35,043 368,139 403,182 29,373 335,563 364,936
===== ===== ===== ===== ===== =====
Return per share 27.51p 289.06p 316.57p 21.79p 248.92p 270.71p
Dividends proposed in respect of the financial year ended 31st January 2007
total 25.0p per share (2006: 21.75p per share) costing £31,363,000 (2006:
£29,150,000).
All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing
operations. No operations were acquired or discontinued in the year.
The total column of this statement is the profit and loss account of the Company
and the revenue and capital columns represent supplementary information. The
total column represents all the information that is required to be disclosed in
a 'Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses (STRGL)'. For this reason a
STRGL has not been presented.
JPMorgan Fleming Mercantile Investment Trust plc
Unaudited figures for the year ended 31st January 2007
Reconciliation of Movements in Shareholders' Funds (Unaudited)
Called up Share Capital
share premium redemption Capital Revenue
capital account reserve reserve reserve Total
£'000 £,000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
At 31st January 2005 33,957 4,361 2,170 1,068,890 35,155 1,144,533
Adjustment to opening shareholders'
funds at 1st February 2005 due to
adoption of bid prices - - - (7,938) - (7,938)
Shares bought back and cancelled (1,477) - 1,477 (49,754) - (49,754)
Shares issued 643 19,098 - - - 19,741
Total return from ordinary activities - - - 335,563 29,373 364,936
Dividends appropriated in the year - - - - (26,524) (26,524)
_______ _______ ________ _______ _______ ________
At 31st January 2006 33,123 23,459 3,647 1,346,761 38,004 1,444,994
Shares bought back and cancelled (1,859) - 1,859 (75,662) - (75,662)
Total return from ordinary activities - - - 368,139 35,043 403,182
Dividends appropriated in the year - - - - (28,666) (28,666)
_______ _______ ________ _______ _______ ________
At 31st January 2007 31,264 23,459 5,506 1,639,238 44,381 1,743,848
===== ===== ===== ===== ===== =====
JPMorgan Fleming Mercantile Investment Trust plc
Unaudited figures for the year ended 31st January 2007
Balance sheet (Unaudited) (Audited)
2007 2006
£'000 £'000
Fixed assets
Investments at fair value through profit or loss 1,778,500 1,607,071
Current assets
Debtors 31,112 37,408
Cash and short term deposits 129,733 2
_______ _______
160,845 37,410
Creditors : amounts falling due within one year (18,884) (22,970)
_______ _______
Net current assets 141,961 14,440
_______ _______
Total assets less current liabilities 1,920,461 1,621,511
Creditors : amounts falling due after more than one year (176,613) (176,517)
_______ _______
Total net assets 1,743,848 1,444,994
===== =====
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital 31,264 33,123
Share premium account 23,459 23,459
Capital redemption reserve 5,506 3,647
Capital reserve 1,639,238 1,346,761
Revenue reserve 44,381 38,004
_______ _______
Shareholders' funds 1,743,848 1,444,994
===== =====
Net asset value per share (note 2) 1,394.4p 1,090.6p
Cash flow statement (Unaudited) (Audited)
2007 2006
£'000 £'000
Net cash inflow from operating activities 35,244 31,624
Net cash outflow from servicing of finance (11,258) (13,071)
Net cash inflow from financial investment 222,389 32,230
Total equity dividends paid (28,666) (26,524)
Net cash outflow from financing (87,906) (58,533)
_______ ______
Increase/(decrease) in cash in the year 129,783 (34,274)
===== ====
Notes to the Accounts
1. Accounting policies
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 1985,
United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice ('UK GAAP') and with the
Statement of Recommended Practice 'Financial Statements of Investment Trust
Companies' dated 31st December 2005. All of the Company's operations are of a
continuing nature.
2. Net asset value per share
The Net asset value per share is based on the net assets attributable to the
ordinary shareholders of £1,743,848,000 (2006: £1,444,994,000) and on the
125,058,759 (2006: 132,494,142) shares in issue at the year end.
3. Status of preliminary announcement
The financial information set out in this preliminary announcement does not
constitute the Company's statutory accounts for the years ended 31 January 2006
or 2007. The statutory accounts for the year ended 31 January 2007 have not been
delivered to the Registrar of Companies, nor have the auditors yet reported on
them. The statutory accounts for the year ended 31 January 2007 will be
finalised on the basis of the information presented by the directors in this
preliminary announcement and will delivered to the Registrar of Companies
following the approval of the accounts by the Board of Directors.
JPMORGAN ASSET MANAGEMENT (UK) LIMITED
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