Edinburgh Investment grows NAV despite market turmoil

Edinburgh Investment Trust, the FTSE 250 group focused on UK securities, put in a resilient performance in the year to March 31st, growing net asset value (NAV) by a tenth in spite of the volatile market conditions during the period.

NAV per share at market value increased by 10.2% over the period, from 434.02p to 478.3p. Revenue return per share excluding VAT recovered on management fees and interest increased by 6.3% from 20.8p to 22.1p.

The final dividend was raised by 5.8% from 20.8p to 22p.

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Looking at its portfolio, the company is weighted heavily in the defensive sectors - assets investors often pour into when markets are volatile - and that strategy seemed to work during the year with its share price jumping 17.6%, compared with the FTSE All-Share Index which rose by only 1.4%. The group has a great deal of exposure to pharmaceuticals, tobacco and telecoms stocks.

"Economic and market conditions have remained challenging throughout the past 12 months. However, against this backdrop, the company's defensively positioned investment portfolio delivered substantial out-performance against the broader market for the year ended March 31st 2012," said Chairman Jim Pettigrew.

In regards to the outlook, Pettigrew admitted that "there appears to be no realistic end in sight to the ongoing difficult economic and market environment."

He said that "relatively concentrated nature of the portfolio may from time to time result in material short-term performance deviations from the benchmark."

"However, the board and the manager continue to believe that in the present difficult market environment the current defensive investment approach provides resilience whilst still providing the opportunity for creating growth in shareholder value over the long term."

Shares were up 0.2% at 469.44p in early trading on Friday.

BC