LONDON (Alliance News) - European Investment Trust PLC, which aims to generate capital growth for shareholders by investing in mainland Europe, said it underperformed in the first half due to the "tendency" of European markets to "place high valuations on stable growth companies".
Its net asset value as of March 31, which marks the end of the first half to its financial year, stood at 742.24p, a marginal increase on the 742.20p reported six months earlier.
After including the special and final dividends totalling 16.0p per share which were paid in January 2016, the NAV total return for the six-month period was 2.2%.
In that time, the total return from the FTSE All-World Europe (excluding UK) Index in sterling was 6.9%.
Dale Robertson of investment manager Edinburgh Partners said the continued tendency towards putting high values on stable growth companies represents an extension of a "valuation anomaly".
"During the period, the euro strengthened by 7% against sterling, which enhanced returns for sterling-based investors investing in European equities," Robertson said.
Shares in European Investment Trust were up 0.1% to 650.8p.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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