Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 5356R

Witan Investment Trust PLC

30 April 2009

 



WITAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

30 April 2009

WITAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC 

First Interim Management Statement for the year beginning 1 January 2009

Objective
The objective of Witan Investment Trust plc is to be the first choice for wealth creation through equity investment.  The Company offers its shareholders a diverse investment in terms of investment managers, geographical regions, industrial sectors and individual holdings.    

Review of the first six month period, beginning 1 January 2009

Between 31 December 2008 and 31 March 2009 the net asset value per share total return was

-10.41%.  The Company's benchmark returned a negative 10.25% over this three month period.  

Between 31 December 2008 and 31 March 2009 the Company bought back for cancellation a total of 347,600 of its ordinary shares. The number of ordinary shares in issue at 31 March 2009 was 214,051,054.  The share price at 31 March 2009 was 318p, giving the Company a market capitalisation of £680.7 million.  As at 29 April 2009 the number of ordinary shares in issue was 213,994,054 and the share price was 352.5p, giving the Company a current market capitalisation of £754.3 million.  

The Company paid on 3 April 2009, in respect of the year ended 31 December 2008, a second interim dividend of 5.9p per ordinary share.

At the Company's Annual General Meeting, held on 28 April 2009, all ten resolutions were duly passed.  

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): September 2009

Company Statistics as at 31 March 2009

Gross Total Assets:  £886 million*

Net asset value per ordinary share:  364.6p*

Share price:  318.0p*

Gearing:  6%

Dividend yield:  3.21%*

Total Expense Ratio (TER) for 2008:  0.71%

Multi-Manager Structure as at 31 March 2009

Manager % of Assets

Henderson Global Investors (UK Mainstream) 15%

Southeastern (Global Equity) 14%

MFS (Global Equity) 11%

Thomas White International (Global Equity) 10%

Brandes (Japan) 9%

Wellington (Continental Europe) 8%

Artemis Investment Management (UK) 7%

Henderson Global Investors (North America) 7%

Marathon Asset Management (UK) 6%

Comgest (Far East, excluding Japan and Australasia) 6%

Henderson Global Investors (UK Smaller Companies) 3%

Varenne Capital Partners (Continental Europe) 3%

Orbis (Australasia) 1%

Geographic Breakdown as at 31 March 2009*

UK 32.5%

North America 22.8%

Japan & Far East 19.1%

Europe 17.4%

Cash 6.5%

Other 1.7%

Sector Allocation as at 31 March 2009*

Financials 23.5%

Consumer services 13.5%

Industrials 12.9%

Consumer goods 9.5%

Oil & gas 9.5%

Technology 6.8%

Health care 6.6%

Telecommunications 4.7%

Cash 6.5%

Other 6.5%

*Source: BNP Paribas

Ten Largest Holdings as at 31 March 2009*

Royal Dutch Shell 2.1%

BP 2.0%

GlaxoSmithKline 1.4%

Fairfax Financial 1.3%

Vodafone 1.3%

Walt Disney 1.2%

Liberty Media 1.2%

Nipponkoa Insurance 1.1%

Dell 1.0%

Japan Petroleum 1.0%

*Source: BNP Paribas

Investment Performance*

Performance over	3 months	6 months	1 year	3 years	5 years	10 years
Share Price (Total Return)	-7.62%	-13.99%	-24.18%	-22.24%	21.14%	5.29%
Net Asset Value (Total Return)	-10.41%	-15.10%	-24.87%	-22.91%	11.01%	-0.71%
Benchmark (Total Return)	-10.25%	-14.84%	-24.45%	-22.60%	14.21%	5.69%

*Source: Datastream

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

James Frost                         or     Eleanor Mitchell / Hugo Mortimer-Harvey

Marketing Director                       Quill Communications

Witan Investment Trust plc            Tel: [phone] / 2234 

Tel: [phone]

 

END

 

 

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