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LONDON (Alliance News) - The European Investment Trust PLC on Thursday said it underperformed its benchmark in its recently ended financial year following a fall in net asset value per share.
NAV total return for the year to the end of September was negative 2.1%. Meanwhile, the company's benchmark, the FTSE All-World Europe ex UK Index, returned a positive 2.4%.
NAV per share declined to 1,004.3 pence from the 1,047.9p reported at the end of financial 2017.
European Investment Trust shares were untraded on Thursday, last closing at 816.00p each.
The trust's share price total return was 1.2%, with the share price standing at 908.0p at the year-end. Shares were trading at 9.6% discount to NAV, narrowed from 12.3% discount a year prior.
European Investment Trust proposed a final dividend of 18.0p a share, taking the total payout for the year to 27.0p, up 26% year-on-year.
During the year, the company said it purchased 750,500 shares at an average discount to NAV of 10.3% at a total cost of GBP6.9 million.
Since the year-end, it has bought back a further 90,000 shares at a total cost of GBP746,000, at an average discount of 9.9%.
"This has been a challenging period for European investment and Europe in general," said Chairman Michael MacPhee.
"Our central investment case is for ongoing recovery and modest economic growth in Europe, supporting a rise in the cost of money. This should lead to a reduction in the valuations of highly rated growth stocks and an improvement in the performance of stocks with lower growth expectations and starting valuations," added Investment Manager Craig Armour.
In a separate statement, European Investment Trust said Non-Executive Director William Eason - who has been with the company for over 11 years - will retire at the end of annual general meeting, scheduled on January 22.
The company said it appointed Sue Inglis and Andrew Watkins as independent non-executive directors from the beginning of 2019. Both Inglis and Watkins will join the Audit Committee.
Inglis has previously served as a senior corporate financier in Cantor Fitzgerald's investment companies team. She is currently a non-executive director of Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust PLC and BMO Managed Portfolio Trust PLC.
Meanwhile, Watkins was head of client relations, sales & marketing for Invesco Perpetual's listed investment funds business. He now serves as chairman of Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust PLC and a non-executive director of BMO UK High Income Trust PLC and Chelverton UK Dividend Trust PLC.