LONDON (Alliance News) - Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust PLC said on Friday it lagged against its benchmark for the first half of its financial year, as the healthcare trust underperformed in the period.
For the six months to the end of March, the trust's net asset value negative return was 3.0%, compared to the 2.3% negative return by the MSCI ACWI/Healthcare Index in sterling terms, with dividends reinvested.
Net asset value per share as at March 31 was 233.53 pence, up from 183.00p the same date the year before, but down from 241.91p at the end of September.
Polar Capital's share price at the end of March was 216.00p, reflecting a discount to net asset value of 7.5%, widened from 6.1% the year before.
Shares in Polar Capital Global Healthcare were down 1.0% on the day Friday at 203.50 pence, having fallen 5.8% since the period-end.
The trust said that the overall healthcare market "modestly underperformed", with major sell-offs in October and December due to trade friction, slowing global growth, as well as political uncertainties.
Detractors within the trust's portfolio includes Diurnal Group PLC, which reported that its congenital adrenal hyperplasia treatment product Chronocort failed to meet its primary objective in its phase three trial.
Another detractor was Consort Medical PLC, due to delays in some of its customer projects.
However, stocks that performed well were Merck & Co Inc, with strong momentum in its immuno-oncology and vaccines businesses, and Renalytix AI PLC, due to progress in the development of its AI-enabled product for treating kidney diseases.
"While backward looking, the temperamental, almost nervous nature of the market further underpins our view that large-cap healthcare companies should be a relatively attractive place to invest in the near to medium term," Polar Capital Global Healthcare said.
"With technology at the fore, we continue to believe we can find companies within our investment universe that are capable of delivering mid to high single-digit, organic, top-line growth, operating leverage as well as high single to low double-digit total shareholder returns," the trust added.
