Witan Share Price (WTAN)

FSTE 250 company Witan Investment Trust has appointed UK-based hedge fund specialist Lansdowne Partners to manage a global equity portfolio. The portfolio will have an initial value of £30m and will be invested in accordance with Lansdowne Partners' newly established developed markets long only strategy. It will take effect from December 14th and will be funded from cash resources, with a small initial increase in short-term borrowings. Lansdowne Partners has a long history of managing equity portfolios. The company applies a concentrated stock-picking approach strategy. This consists solely of long positions in a portfolio of 15-25 stocks, chosen for their investment attractions, independent of stock market weightings. Andrew Bell, Chief Executive of Witan Investment Trust, said: "This appointment is part of our continuing move to invest more with specialist managers who have innovative and high-conviction approaches towards creating value through stock picking and portfolio construction. Lansdowne Partners' unconstrained yet analytically- rigorous investment approach fits well with Witan's objective of seeking returns driven by the individual characteristics of portfolio companies and less dependent upon equity index performance."

Further to my previous post, I obviously meant 2016, not 2012. Anyway, she's going to see an accountant next week so he should be able to answer all her questions.

Hi guys, I have a beginner's question (or two) if you have a mo'. My mother inherited a quantity of Witan 8.5% Debenture Stock 2012 and she'd like to sell up. My questions are, is it just like selling ordinary shares (she's now registered with Computershare) and are Witan debentures liable for Capital Gains Tax? Thanks.

Directors' Report: Chairman's Statement Highlights • NAV total return ahead of benchmark by 3.4% • NAV total return over last five years of 38.1% - exceeding benchmark by 6.5% • increased gearing at market low point in June • dividend increased for the 36th consecutive year • portfolio repositioned on 100% active lines with a more proactive approach to risk management

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201103160700240204D

Witan reinvigorated Date: Wednesday 16 Mar 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Venerable Witan Investment Trust, founded 102 years ago, showed there is still life in the old dog as it outperformed its benchmark index in 2010. Net asset value (NAV) total return in 2010 was 18.9%, compared with a return on the trust’s benchmark index of 15.5%. Share buybacks contributed half a percentage point to the outperformance, while gearing boosted outperformance by 1.9 percentage points. Like most investment trusts Witan prefers to take a longer term view of its performance, and added that over five years the Witan NAV total return has been 38.1% which translates into a 6.7% per annum compound rate of return, while the share price total return has been 7.1% per annum, despite the market crisis in 2008. The company has declared a second interim dividend of 6.5p per share, bringing the full year pay-out up to 10.9p, up from 10.5p in 2009. The annual dividend has now been increased for 36 years in a row. “Recent data indicate that the global recovery remains intact. However politicians are performing a high wire act, trying to balance the imperative of continued economic growth on the one hand and the need to resolve the debt crisis on the other. It would seem that higher inflation is probably the inevitable outcome,” opined Witan chairman Harry Henderson. Notwithstanding the immediate uncertainties caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the board believes that “in the years ahead a well diversified portfolio of global equities offers the opportunity to participate in positive longer term trends in the global economy, as well as offering some protection against the risks of higher inflation.”