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LONDON (Alliance News) - Murray International Trust PLC Tuesday said it underperformed its benchmark in 2013, prompting it to claw back GBP5.3 million of previously earned but unpaid performance fees in accordance with the terms of the management agreement.
The trust is managed by Aberdeen Asset Managers Ltd.
The trust said its net asset value return with income reinvested was 4.6% in 2013, while the benchmark's total return was 21.2%. The company's benchmark is a composite index comprising 40% of the FTSE World UK Index and 60% of the FTSE World ex-UK Index.
"At the beginning of 2013 conservative expectations would have been satisfied by a prospective increase of 4.6% in net asset value total return plus a 6.2% increase in a fully covered dividend. In the event this was achieved. Unfortunately, however, this represented the Trust's largest annual relative underperformance against its benchmark for a very long time," Chairman Kevin Carter said in a statement.
"Exceptional returns from low-yielding markets such as the United States and Japan, to which the Trust is underexposed, drove the composite benchmark higher, whilst overexposure to out of favour regions such as Latin America and Asia adversely affected relative performance," Carter added.
The primary aim of the company is to achieve a total return greater than its benchmark by investing predominantly in equities worldwide. Within this objective the manager will seek to increase the company's revenues in order to maintain an above average dividend yield.
Murray International Trust increased its full-year dividend to 43.0 pence from 40.5 pence in 2012.
Murray International Trust shares were Tuesday quoted at 1,002.00 pence, up 0.7%.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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