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LONDON (Alliance News) - F&C Investment Trust PLC on Tuesday said it outperformed its benchmark in 2018 with "very strong" gains from its private equity portfolio.
The trust's net asset value total return, with debt at market value, was negative 3.3% for 2018, while the FTSE All-World Index benchmark posted a return of negative 3.4%. The trust opts to use the FTSE All-World Index as its benchmark in order to gauge its performance.
F&C Investment Trust's total shareholder return was minus 0.6%, more noticeably ahead of the benchmark.
The company said its portfolio did "relatively well" with good relative returns from its emerging markets exposure. The company also said it had seen "very strong absolute gains" from its private equity portfolio, which it described as "strategically positioned" to deliver higher long-term returns than its listed equity portfolios.
The company's net asset value on December 31 stood at 643.93 pence per share, declining from 676.53p per share the year before.
F&C Investment Trust put this down to "a change in sentiment" that caused the US to join other markets in ending 2018 down, harming most of the trust's investment portfolios.
"Despite the turn in sentiment our US investment portfolio performed relatively well. This, along with good relative returns from our Emerging Markets exposure and very strong absolute gains from our Private Equity portfolio, which is strategically positioned to provide higher returns than the listed equity portfolios over the longer term, helped in our modest outperformance of the benchmark," the company said.
The trust has declared a final dividend of 2.8p per share, taking the annual dividend per share to 11.0p - up up 5.8% year-on-year and its 48th consecutive annual increase.
F&C Investment Trust Chair Simon Fraser said: "The future political and economic environment is perhaps even more uncertain than ever with only a few weeks until we are expected to leave the European Union but still no clarity as to how we are going to do so. Globally, as well, there are question marks on the major trading relationships between China and the US. Additionally, the speed with which technology is disrupting traditional industries continues to accelerate.
"While this extraordinary uncertainty presents considerable risks, it also creates significant opportunities for new economic activity and new companies. While traditional global trade routes are under threat, new ones are developing."
Shares in F&C Investment Trust were down 0.4% at 679.00p on Tuesday morning.