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(Alliance News) - Jupiter Green Investment Trust PLC on Wednesday reported a fall in NAV over its most recently ended financial year, underperforming its benchmark.
At March 31, the trust's NAV per share stood at 173.31 pence, down 8.2% compared to 188.70p at the same point the year before.
Jupiter Green declared total dividends of 2.40p, up from 2.20p the year before. The trust said it plans to maintain its dividend policy, for the time being, despite the "challenges presented by Covid-19".
"It is too early to assess the longer-term ability of the company to maintain this policy because of the uncertainties presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. Accordingly the policy will be held under regular review by the board," Jupiter Green added.
As a result, the trust's return was negative 6.9% in the year ended March 31, which was behind its benchmark - the FTSE ET100 Total Return Index - which added 3.4% in the same period.
The fund manager Charlie Thomas said: "This underperformance was mostly driven by our lack of exposure to Tesla, which is the largest constituent of the FTSE ET100 Total Return Index, accounting for around 11% of that index. While not holding Tesla was beneficial for performance during the first six months of the financial year, Tesla's share price had a stellar run in in the fourth quarter of 2019 and the surge continued into 2020."
"We continue to have no exposure to the stock as, in our view, Tesla remains very expensive and struggles to generate and sustain cash and profits," the manager added.
Thomas said UK-based food products supplier Cranswick and Japan-based automation equipment manufacturer Azbil and industrial boiler manufacturer Miura were positive contributors.
"Additionally we benefited from not owning stocks such as composites provider Hexcel, semiconductor company AMS and LED lighting manufacturer Cree," Thomas added.
The manager also noted its position in UK-listed bus and rail passenger transport company National Express was a "key detractor".
Looking ahead, Thomas believes the current market will offer "some attractive opportunities" for investors focused on long-term structural growth. Despite this, his optimism is "tempered somewhat" as the full impact of Covid-19 is currently unknown, but expects "prolonged subdued economic activity".
"There has been a wide dispersion in returns from the companies held in the portfolio so far, with some share prices up year-to-date, while others have been hurt. However, it is important to remember that many of the environmental and sustainable themes can present multi-year, if not multi-decade, opportunities, and we will look to take advantage of any underappreciated opportunities that arise as a result of the recent market turmoil," Thomas added.
By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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