Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 7162Q

Witan Investment Trust PLC

09 November 2012

 



WITAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC                                                                        Page 1 of 4

9 November 2012

Second Interim Management Statement for the year beginning 1 January 2012

Objective

The objective of Witan Investment Trust plc is to be the preferred choice for wealth creation, delivering long-term capital growth and a growing real income to shareholders through investment in global equity markets. 

Review of the second six month period, beginning 1 July 2012

Between 30 June 2012 and 30 September 2012 the net asset value per share total return (calculated by including the debt at fair value) was 6.2%.  The Company's benchmark returned 4.5% over this three month period. 

Between 30 June 2012 and 30 September 2012 the Company bought back for cancellation a total of 470,500 of its ordinary shares.  The number of ordinary shares in issue at 30 September 2012 was 190,418,500.  The share price at 30 September 2012 was 487.10p, giving the Company a market capitalisation of £927.5 million.  As at 8 November 2012 the number of ordinary shares in issue was 190,399,500 and the share price was 485.4p, giving the Company a current market capitalisation of £924.2 million.  

On 14 September 2012, the Company paid an interim dividend of 6.00p (2011: 5.45p) per ordinary share, in respect of the year ending 31 December 2012.

There are no other material events or transactions to report.

Company Information

Epic Code:  WTAN

Sector:  Global Growth

Launch date:  1909

Financial year end:  31 December

Next dividend payment (ordinary shares): April 2013

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Company Statistics as at 30 September 2012

Gross Total Assets: £1,185million*

Net asset value per ordinary share: 541.42p*

Share price: 487.10p*

Discount: 10.0%*

Gearing: 8%*

Dividend yield: 2.46%*

Total Expense Ratio (TER) for 2011: 0.87% (excluding performance fees: 0.71%)*

Geographic Breakdown as at 30 September 2012*

UK                              44.8%

North America             18.2%

Europe                         15.0%

Far East                       11.3%

Japan                           2.9%

Other                           4.6%

Cash                            3.2%

Sector Allocation as at 30 September 2012*

Financials                     22.3%

Consumer Services       14.0%

Industrials                     12.8%

Consumer Goods         11.0%

Technology                   8.2%

Oil & Gas                     8.0%

Health Care                  7.2%

Basic Materials             4.2%

Other                           5.1%

Open Ended Funds       4.9%

Equity Index Futures     -0.9%

Cash/Bonds                  3.2%

Ten Largest Holdings as at 30 September 2012*

(on a look through basis across managers, excluding collective funds)

3i Group                                                                       3.0%

Electra Private Equity                                                    2.6%

Diageo                                                                         2.0%

BP                                                                               1.7%

Pearson                                                                        1.6%

Unilever                                                                        1.6%

Vodafone                                                                     1.5%

Princess Private Equity                                                 1.3%

Reed Elsevier                                                               1.2%

Schroders                                                                     1.2%

*Source: BNP Paribas Securities Services

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Manager Breakdown and percentages of portfolio under management

Manager	Mandate	31/12/11	30/06/12	30/09/12
		%	%	%
Artemis	UK	8.2	8.3	8.6
Lindsell Train	UK	10.8	11.8	11.8
NewSmith Asset Management	UK	9.7	9.3	9.2
Henderson Global Investors	UK Smaller Cos	2.2	2.0	2.0
Southeastern Asset Management	Global	11.7	9.1	9.0
MFS International	Global	8.1	8.5	8.5
Thomas White International	Global	8.8	8.9	8.8
Veritas	Global	11.3	12.6	12.5
Marathon	Pan-Europe	8.9	7.6	7.8
Comgest	Pacific ex Japan	6.5	6.7	6.8
Trilogy	Emerging Markets	4.0	4.3	4.4
Witan Executive team	Directly-held investments	9.8	10.9	10.6

Investment Performance⁽¹⁾

Performance over	3 months	6 months	1 year	3 years	5 years	10 years
Share Price (Total Return)	8.4%	0.6%	18.6%	25.6%	14.9%	142.6%
Net Asset Value (Total Return) (2)	6.2%	-0.7%	18.1%	21.9%	14.7%	133.5%
Benchmark (Total Return)	4.5%	0.6%	15.9%	20.9%	11.1%	131.0%

⁽¹⁾  Source: FE Analytics & DataStream - percentage growth to 30 September 2012.

⁽²⁾  The Net Asset Value figures value debt at fair value except for the 10 year figures where debt is valued at par value.

Since 01.10.2007 the benchmark has been a composite of four indices: 40% FTSE All-Share, 20% each in FTSE All-World North America, FTSE All-World Europe (ex UK) Index and FTSE All-World Asia Pacific Index. From 01.09.2004 to 30.09.2007 the benchmark consisted of 50% FTSE All-Share, 50% FTSE World (ex UK) and prior to this 60% FTSE All-Share, 40% FTSE World (ex UK). Source: FTSE International Limited ("FTSE"). FTSE is a trade mark of the London Stock Exchange Group companies and is used by FTSE under license. For more information go to http://www.witan.com/legal-information

ENDS

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For further information please contact:

Andrew Bell, Chief Executive Officer

Witan Investment Trust plc

Tel: [phone]

[e-mail]

James Frost, Marketing Director                                   Jain Castiau, Director

Witan Investment Trust plc                                            Cauldron Consulting

Tel: [phone]                                                      Tel: [phone]

[e-mail]                                              [e-mail]

Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

 

END

 

 

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