LONDON (Alliance News) - Keystone Investment Trust PLC on Monday said its return in the financial half was behind benchmark due to the lack of exposure to mining stocks.
The UK and capital-growth focused trust, which is managed by Invesco Perpetual, reported a net asset value total return of negative 4.2% for the six months ended March 31. This compares to a negative 2.3% return from the FTSE All-Share Index over the same period.
The trust's net asset value per share stood at 1,855.8 pence at March 31, down from 1,979.9p at the end of September last year.
The stock was up 0.5% at 1,795.70p on Monday.
Keystone declared an interim dividend per share of 18.0p, maintained from the prior year. Its revenue return per share for the period was 19.4p versus 29.3p in the same period the prior year.
Investment Manager James Goldstone said the portfolio was held back by its zero weighting in the mining sector, which saw a rise in metal prices during 2017. Also, the performance was impacted by geopolitical uncertainty and weak sterling.
Meanwhile, the company's largest investee Barclays PLC and real estate investment trust developer Sigma Capital Group PLC were among the strongest contributors to portfolio returns over the period, Keystone said. However, insurer Saga PLC and online retailer N Brown Group PLC became the worst portfolio performers after the companies' shares dropped sharply.
"The portfolio has been positioned for the anticipated recovery in value stocks, especially in UK domestic cyclicals, and has limited exposure to the parts of the market that have seen valuations expand the most in recent years," said Goldstone. "I am therefore cautiously optimistic in light of recent developments."
