JUS.L Share News (JUS)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Jupiter US Smaller Companies PLC said on Wednesday it outperformed its benchmark in the first half, but said its performance over the past few years has been "disappointing".

Jupiter US said its net asset value came in at GBP165.8 million at the end of its first half on December 31, down 8.8% from GBP181.7 million at the end of June. Its NAV per share rose to 978.20 pence per share from 911.08p over the same period, with shares trading at a slightly narrowed discount of 8.5% to NAV on December 31, compared to the 8.7% discount on June 30.

The stock was closed up 0.7% at 856.00 pence per share on Wednesday.

This 7.4% rise in NAV was above the 4.2% rise in Jupiter US's benchmark the sterling-adjusted Russell 2000 Index, but the trust said that despite this its performance over the past few years has been "disappointing".

The company said that shareholders suffered from the exchange rate movement as the US dollar declined 4.0% against sterling.

Jupiter US said certain areas in the portfolio which had negatively impacted investment performance, including the selling of successful positions too soon and retaining poorly performing stocks for too long. The company reduced its holdings to 46 from 58 at the end of June, it said.

Jupiter US Chairman Gordon Grender said: "The outlook for US economic growth is better than it has been in several years with robust industrial activity helped by stimulus from Tax Reform and a weaker dollar. For now the Fed seems to be in no hurry to raise interest rates."

"The US smaller company sector is still an attractive and interesting one for long term investors. It is generally under-researched and offers areas of undiscovered value," Grender added.

The company bought back 3.0 million shares in the period, with 1.3 million held in Treasury and bringing its total shares outstanding at the end of December to 17.0 million.