LONDON (Alliance News) - Jupiter US Smaller Cos PLC on Friday said it outperformed the benchmark in the first half of its current financial year despite a fall in net asset value.
The investment company reported net asset value per share of 980.80 pence for the six months to the end of December, down from 1,103.43p at the end of June 2018.
Net asset value total return was negative 11.1%, in comparison, the company's benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index sterling adjusted, returned negative 14.9%.
Jupiter US's share price at the end of the period stood at 916p, representing 6.6% discount to net asset value.
The stock closed 0.6% higher on Friday at 980.00p a share.
In the first half, the trust bought back 224,421 shares at an average discount of 8.5%. The company said it will continue to apply its policy of buying back shares at appropriate times with a view to limiting any discount in the longer term to less than 10% in normal market conditions.
"We believe 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," said Chair Gordon Grender.
