Edinburgh Investment Trust's call on pharmaceuticals pays off

The FTSE 250-listedEdinburgh Investment Trust, which invests primarily in UK securities, produced a net asset value (NAV) total return for the year to March 31st of 21.1 per cent debt at par and 22.4 per cent debt at market value.

This was far above the total return of 16.8% for the FTSE All-Share Index, the company's benchmark.

It its annual financial report, issued on Wednesday, the company reported that it had produced a share price total return of 20.1%, which compared to the Index's total return of 16.8%. The discount of the share price to NAV debt at par increased from 0.9% at March 31st 2012 to 1.7% at March 31st 2013.

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The portfolio is concentrated in a relatively small number of sectors and its overweight position in the pharmaceutical sector and the underweight position in the mining sector were described as having been material drivers of the company's investment outperformance in the year.

The Edinburgh Investment Trust was down 1.18% to 588p at 08:18 on Wednesday.

MF