Half-yearly Report

Half-yearly report for the six months ended 30 June 2012 The total return on the net assets of Temple Bar during the first half of 2012 was 9.5%, which compares with a total return for the FTSE All-Share Index of 3.3%. Post-tax revenue earnings for the half year were £12.6m compared with £11.5m in the equivalent period last year. The Board has declared an interim dividend of 14.65p, an increase of 4.6% over last year, to shareholders on the register at 14 September. Market conditions in the first half were perfect for investors who enjoy reacting to the meaningless flow of economic statistics and media sound bites. These investors talked enthusiastically about `risk on, risk off' markets, implying they were sufficiently skilful to fine-tune their equity strategies and benefit from the volatility. However, even this group appeared to lose heart during the six month period, whipsawed by market movements as the market swayed between concerns over the Eurozone banking crisis and slowdowns in the US and Chinese economies on one hand and the hope for further financial easing (and damn the consequences) if conditions deteriorated too much. As we have often stated, we claim no competitive advantage in economic forecasting and therefore consider it futile to participate in such pastimes. Our preference is to analyse companies from a `bottom-up' perspective. Of course, all companies are affected by the economic backdrop, but our long-term focus accepts that economic conditions will not always be ideal throughout our holding period. We must, however, be confident that the companies in which we invest have balance sheets strong enough to weather hazardous economic conditions. Although the universe of underperforming shares from which we select our stocks is reasonably large, our dealing activity remains subdued. Of great concern to us over our investment horizon is the impact that technological progress may have on the companies we analyse. The likes of Amazon, Apple and Facebook have disrupted companies across a number of industries in recent years and it is impossible for an investor confidently to assert where future disruptive behaviour may take hold. It is amazing that Facebook is only eight years old and that the next decade's great companies may currently be embryonic or as yet non-existent organizations. Our preference in a fast moving world is therefore to select from those companies where we can be reasonably sure their business model will be fairly similar in five years' time. Within this group our purchases, which in most cases were top-ups of existing holdings, were focused on those companies currently generating weaker profitability than peers but which we believe can close the gap (eg Avon and Grafton), companies that have had `good' recessions, mainly by virtue of their weak competitors becoming weaker (eg Grafton, Carnival and HSBC) and those companies where other investors were reluctant to recognise prospects for a significant sales bounce back (SIG, Grafton). We had sold BP in the first half of 2011, concerned that the longer-term consequences of the Gulf of Mexico spill would be higher costs and lower growth. The shares fell significantly following the sale and while a number of doubts remained about BP's future, the shares' valuation was sufficiently attractive for us to rebuild a position. Sales made on the portfolio were a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. The Colfax shares received as part of the bid for Charter were sold, as were Wolseley and Compass after very strong share price recoveries. Home Retail was sold having performed strongly early in the year; we had under-estimated the competitive intensity in non-food retailing in the UK and could envision only many years of struggle for many of the largest participants. We also sold Independent News and Media as the balance sheet had deteriorated further since the original purchase. A crumb of comfort was that the buyer of our shares paid a significantly higher than market price for our stock. In April, Cable & Wireless Worldwide received a bid, which we accepted, from Vodafone. We were frustrated that Cable & Wireless's operational performance had deteriorated so rapidly and it is likely that Vodafone has purchased a company ripe for a turnaround. Our acceptance of the bid reflected our doubts that the company's balance sheet could withstand further operational deterioration. Cable & Wireless Worldwide was the most significant contributor to relative performance over the period. Travis Perkins also performed well as investors appreciated the company's strong operational performance in an unhelpful environment. Games Workshop and Qinetiq also performed well; investors reacted to improving profitability and balance sheet strength. Performance was also assisted by having no exposure to the UK mining sector, the weakest sector in the UK equity market in the first half of the year. In general, we were also fortunate to avoid the worst performing stocks in other sectors. While other investors moan about high volatility, we are more positive. Fund management is a very competitive activity and success demands that our competitors sometimes act irrationally thus providing us with opportunities if we can remain objective. Such actions are far more likely in periods of great uncertainty. Alastair Mundy Investec Asset Management Limited 24 July 2012 Twenty largest holdings as at 30 June 2012 Company Sector Place of Valuation % of Listing £'000 Portfolio GlaxoSmithKline Health Care UK 50,351 8.35 Royal Dutch Shell Oil & Gas UK 49,713 8.25 HSBC Banks UK 44,453 7.38 Signet Jewelers Retail UK/USA 41,386 6.87 Unilever Food & Beverage UK 37,614 6.24 Vodafone Telecommunications UK 30,982 5.14 Travis Perkins Industrial Goods & UK 24,213 4.02 Services BT Telecommunications UK 23,567 3.91 AstraZeneca Health Care UK 23,155 3.84 British American Personal & Household UK 21,638 3.59 Tobacco Goods QinetiQ Group Industrial Goods & UK 17,027 2.83 Services Grafton Group Industrial Goods & UK/Ireland 16,391 2.72 Services BP Oil & Gas UK 15,288 2.54 Avon Products Personal & Household USA 14,791 2.45 Goods Centrica Utilities UK 13,939 2.31 SIG Industrial Goods & UK 12,955 2.15 Services Pfizer Heath Care USA 11,964 1.99 UK Treasury 4.5% Fixed Interest UK 10,594 1.76 Stock 2013 CRH Industrial Goods & UK/Ireland 9,631 1.60 Services Market Vectors - Basic Resources USA 9,510 1.58 ETF Gold Miners 479,162 79.52 Consolidated statement of comprehensive income for the six months ended 30 June 2012 30 June 2012 30 June 2011 31 December 2011 (unaudited) (unaudited) (audited) Revenue Capital Revenue Capital Revenue Capital return return Total return return Total return return Total £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 Investment income 14,159 - 14,159 13,132 - 13,132 25,640 - 25,640 Other operating income 1 - 1 72 - 72 79 - 79 Total income 14,160 - 14,160 13,204 - 13,204 25,719 - 25,719 Gains/(losses) on investments Gains/(losses) on fair value through profit or loss - 23,871 23,871 - 13,317 13,317 - (19,776) (19,776) assets 14,160 23,871 38,031 13,204 13,317 26,521 25,719 (19,776) 5,943 Expenses Management fees (427) (640) (1,067) (421) (632) (1,053) (816) (1,224) (2,040) Other expenses including (223) (95) (318) (346) (455) (801) (527) (569) (1,096) dealing costs Profit/(loss) before finance costs and tax 13,510 23,136 36,646 12,437 12,230 24,667 24,376 (21,569) 2,807 Finance costs (911) (1,362) (2,273) (908) (1,362) (2,270) (1,824) (2,753) (4,577) Profit/(loss) before tax 12,599 21,774 34,373 11,529 10,868 22,397 22,552 (24,322) (1,770) Tax - - - - - - - - - Profit/(loss) for the period 12,599 21,774 34,373 11,529 10,868 22,397 22,552 (24,322) (1,770) Earnings per share (basic 21.04p 36.36p 57.40p 19.55p 18.43p 37.98p 38.08p (41.07)p (2.99)p and diluted) An interim dividend of 14.65 pence per share (£8,827,000) in respect of the six months ended 30 June 2012 was declared on 24 July 2012 and is payable on 28 September 2012. An interim dividend of 14.0 pence per share (£8,255,000) in respect of the six months ended 30 June 2011 was declared on 26 July 2011 and was paid on 30 September 2011. A final dividend of 21.23 pence per share (£12,675,000) in respect of the year ended 31 December 2011 was declared on 23 February 2012 and was paid on 30 March 2012. The total column of this statement represents the Group's Income Statement, prepared in accordance with IFRS. The supplementary revenue return and capital return columns are both prepared under guidance published by the Association of Investment Companies. All items in the above statement derive from continuing operations. All income is attributable to the equity holders of the parent company. There are no minority interests. Consolidated statement of changes in equity for the six months ended 30 June 2012 Ordinary Share share premium Capital Retained Total capital account reserves earnings equity £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 14,925 14,442 462,510 30,163 522,040 BALANCE AT 1 JANUARY 2012 Profit for the period - - 21,774 12,599 34,373 14,925 14,442 484,284 42,762 556,413 Issue of share capital* 138 4,784 - - 4,922 Dividends paid to equity shareholders - - - (12,675) (12,675) BALANCE AT 30 JUNE 2012 15,063 19,226 484,284 30,087 548,660 Consolidated statement of changes in equity for the six months ended 30 June 2011 Ordinary Share share premium Capital Retained Total capital account reserves earnings equity £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 14,740 8,507 486,832 29,943 540,022 BALANCE AT 1 JANUARY 2011 Profit for the period - - 10,868 11,529 22,397 14,740 8,507 497,700 41,472 562,419 Dividends paid to equity shareholders - - - (13,974) (13,974) BALANCE AT 30 JUNE 2011 14,740 8,507 497,700 27,498 548,445 * 550,000 shares were issued during the period for a total consideration of £4,921,500 at a premium to the prevailing net asset value due to investor demand. Consolidated statement of financial position as at 30 June 2012 30 June 30 June 31 December 2012 2011 2011 (unaudited) (unaudited) (audited) £'000 £'000 £'000 NON-CURRENT ASSETS Investments held at fair value through 602,679 607,639 578,048 profit or loss CURRENT ASSETS Cash and cash equivalents 6,441 1,978 3,883 Other receivables 4,487 5,989 4,634 10,928 7,967 8,517 TOTAL ASSETS 613,607 615,606 586,565 CURRENT LIABILITIES Other payables (1,516) (3,749) (1,085) TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT 612,091 611,857 585,480 LIABILITIES NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES Interest bearing (63,431) (63,412) (63,440) borrowings NET ASSETS 548,660 548,445 522,040 EQUITY ATTRIBUTABLE TO EQUITY HOLDERS Ordinary share capital 15,063 14,740 14,925 Share premium 19,226 8,507 14,442 Capital reserves 484,284 497,700 462,510 Retained earnings 30,087 27,498 30,163 TOTAL EQUITY 548,660 548,445 522,040 NET ASSET VALUE PER SHARE 910.62p 930.18p 874.42p Consolidated statement of cash flows for the six months ended 30 June 2012 30 June 30 June 31 December 2012 2011 2011 (unaudited) (unaudited) (audited) £'000 £'000 £'000 CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES Profit/(loss) before tax 34,373 22,397 (1,770) Adjustments for: Purchases of investments ¹ (85,862) (97,511) (162,877) Sales of investments ¹ 85,110 103,066 163,921 (752) 5,555 1,044 Gains/(losses) on investments (23,871) (13,317) 19,776 Financing costs 2,273 2,270 4,577 Operating cash flows before movements in working capital 12,023 16,905 23,627 Decrease/(increase) in accrued income and 6 (824) (4) prepayments Decrease/(increase) in 141 (1,963) (1,428) receivables Increase in payables 422 2,139 485 NET CASH FLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES BEFORE AND AFTER INCOME TAX 12,592 16,257 22,680 CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES Proceeds from issue of new 4,921 - 6,120 shares Interest paid on borrowings (2,280) (2,279) (4,559) Equity dividends paid (12,675) (13,974) (22,332) NET CASH USED IN FINANCING ACTIVITIES (10,034) (16,253) (20,771) NET INCREASE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 2,558 4 1909 Cash and cash equivalents at the start of the period 3,883 1,974 1,974 Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period 6,441 1,978 3,883 ¹ Purchases and sales of investments are considered to be operating activities of the Company, given its purpose, rather than investing activities. Responsibility Statement The Directors confirm to the best of their knowledge that: - the condensed set of financial statements contained within the half-year report has been prepared in accordance with the Accounting Standards Board's Statement `Half-Yearly Financial Reports'; - the half yearly financial report, which incorporates the interim management report, includes a fair review of the information required by Disclosure and Transparency Rule 4.2.7R of important events that have occurred during the first six months of the financial year and their impact on the condensed set of financial statements and a description of the principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the financial year; and - in accordance with Disclosure and Transparency Rule 4.2.8R there have been no related parties transactions during the six months to 30 June 2012 and therefore nothing to report on any material effect by such a transaction on the financial position or performance of the Company during that period. The half-yearly financial report was approved by the Board on 24 July 2012 and the above responsibility statement was signed on its behalf by: John Reeve Chairman Notes 1. Comparative figures The financial information contained in this half-year report does not constitute statutory accounts as defined in section 434-436 of the Companies Act 2006. The financial information for the six months ended 30 June 2012 and 30 June 2011 has not been audited. The information for the year ended 31 December 2011 does not constitute statutory accounts, but has been extracted from the latest published audited accounts, which have been filed with the Registrar of Companies. The report of the auditors on those accounts contained no qualification or statement under section 498(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006. 2. Publication This half-year report is being sent to shareholders and copies will be made available to the public at the Company's registered office and on its website. For further information please contact: Alastair Mundy Investec Asset Management Limited 020 7597 2000
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