Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 6568W

Martin Currie Portfolio Inv Tst PLC

23 November 2010

 



Martin Currie Portfolio Investment Trust Plc

Interim Management Statement - 1 August - 31 October 2010

Manager's commentary

Equity markets rallied strongly in the autumn. The trust's net asset value rose by 8.3% over the three months. Despite outperformance in both September and October, this was slightly behind the benchmark's 9.0% gain over the period.

The portfolio's performance was helped by two of our largest active positions, Weir Group and PT Astra International. Our private-equity investments, which have lagged in the recent rally, started to play catch-up towards the end of the period, but are still trading at wide discounts to their net asset values. We ended October with cash at 3% of assets.

Recently, macroeconomic uncertainty has focused on the cuts to public-sector spending in the UK, renewed fears over European sovereign debt, the US mid-term elections and the Federal Reserve's announcement on quantitative easing. No doubt the macro concerns will continue, perhaps in a different guise, but we are encouraged by generally good corporate earnings releases and the equity markets' ability to shrug off the slew of negative newspaper headlines.

Tom Walker

Profile

Objective To achieve long-term capital growth by investing in a diversified portfolio of UK and international stocks.

Benchmark FTSE All-Share index

Sector Global growth

Launch 1999

Portfolio

Asset class          31 Jul     31 Oct

Equities                88.7%     97.2%

Cash                      11.3%      2.7%

Other                           -          0.1%

Borrowings               -               -

Equity allocation              31 Jul     31 Oct

United Kingdom               51.8%    56.3%

North America                  18.6%    16.4%

Private equity                    11.1%    10.5%

Continental Europe           8.7%      7.8%

Pacific Basin                        7.6%      7.0%

Japan                                      2.2%      2.0%

Top 10 equity holdings (43.6% of total portfolio)

F&C Private Equity 8.9%

HSBC 6.7 %

BP 5.2%

British American Tobacco 4.2%

GlaxoSmithKline 3.9%

Rio Tinto 3.3%

Xstrata 3.1%

BHP Billiton 2.9%

BG Group 2.7%

AstraZeneca 2.7%

Number of countries 14

Number of holdings 55

Key facts

Net assets £144.7m

Share price (p) 119.3

Net asset value per share (p)* 129.6

Discount (premium) 7.9%

Estimated net yield 2.9%

*Following a recent review by the AIC, the NAV stated in our reporting is inclusive of current year revenue.

Performance

Discrete performance over 12 months to 31 October

	2010	2009         2008		2007	2006
Share Price	14.8%	19.7%	(30.4)%	21.3%	21.0%
NAV	15.8%	21.3%	(33.6)%	22.8%	20.9%
Benchmark	17.5%	23.5%	(34.4)%	13.6%	21.7%

Cumulative performance over periods to 31 October 2010

One month	Three months	Six months	One year	Three years	Five years
Share Price	2.1%	5.7%	(0.3%)	14.8%	(4.4%)	40.3%
NAV	3.2%	8.3%	2.6%	15.8%	(6.8%)	38.4%
Benchmark	2.5%	9.0%	4.2%	17.5%	(4.8%)	31.6%

Source: Martin Currie and Morningstar. Bid to bid basis with net income reinvested over the periods shown in sterling terms. These figures do not include the costs of buying and selling shares in an investment trust. If these were included, performance figures would be reduced.

Capital structure

Ordinary shares 111,631,427*

*Source: Martin Currie as at 31 October 2010.

Board of directors

Peter Berry (chairman)

Gillian Nott

David Kidd

Ben Thomson

Mike Balfour

Material events and transactions

During the period the company bought back 1,084,163 shares at a cost of £1.25m.

The interim dividend of 1.0p per share was declared and paid on 28 October 2010.

Following an audit tender process Ernst & Young resigned as auditor to the company and was replaced by PricewaterhouseCoopers - with effect from 11 October 2010.

Following the retirement in May this year of Douglas Kinloch Anderson, Gill Nott has been appointed as Chair of the Marketing and Communications Committee.

Key information

Year end 31 January

Annual general meeting May

Final dividend paid June

Interim dividend paid October

Annual management fee as at 31 January 2010† 0.5%

Total expense ratio 31 January 2010* 0.9%

Epic code MNP

Reuters code MNP.L

†Percentage of net assets.

*Percentage of shareholders' funds. Includes annual management and performance fees.

Website

The trust has its own website at www.martincurrieportfolio.com. There you will find further details about the trust, information on Martin Currie, daily share prices (and associated risks), and you can access regular webcasts by the manager.

Net asset value and dividend history

As at 31 January	Share price	NAV per share	Discount/ (premium)	Dividend per share
2000	89.5p	110.0p	18.6%	1.42p
2001	101.0p	115.7p	12.7%	1.47p
2002	80.5p	89.9p	10.5%	1.50p
2003	57.8p	65.1p	11.2%	1.55p
2004	79.0p	83.0p	4.8%	1.87p
2005	85.0p	91.5p	7.1%	1.99p*
2006	109.0p	116.9p	6.8%	2.20p
2007	117.3p	127.5p	8.0%	2.40p
2008	124.3p	134.8p	7.8%	2.60p
2009	89.8p	93.1p	3.5%	3.50p
2010	113.5p	122.2p	7.1%	3.50p

*Plus special dividend of 1.61p.

Past performance is not a guide to future returns.

 

END

 

 

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