(Alliance News) - Impax Environmental Markets PLC said Friday the investment trust outperformed its comparators over the interim 2019 period, after a strong rebound at the start of the year following a weak end of 2018.
For the six months ended June, net asset value per share jumped 11% to 306.79 pence from 276.79p the year prior.
Shares in Impac Environmental were 0.2% higher at 310.45 pence in London on Friday.
Total return over the first six months of 2019 stood at 25% on a net asset value per share basis and 23% on a share basis, outperforming the 16% return of the FTSE Environmental Technologies 100 Index.
"Over the first six months of 2019, global equity markets rallied strongly following a volatile and difficult end to 2018," Chair John Scott said. "The fourth quarter of last year saw a sharp sell-off in response to growing fears of a US-China trade war and interest rate rises, with a disproportionate impact on small-caps, a sector to which we are significantly exposed."
"We were confident that last year's sell-off in small-cap stocks generally, and environmental markets names in particular, was overdone and we were proved right," Scott added. "Indeed, sentiment improved significantly as the year turned, with the subsequent six months erasing all of the underperformance in 2018 of Impax Environmental Markets against the MSCI All-World Composite Index, and its environmental comparator, the FTSE Environmental Technologies 100 Index."
Over the period, the MSCI All-World Composite Index returned 16%.
"We expect market conditions to remain volatile over the months to come," Scott continued. "Growth is slowing, with the global economy facing challenges on a number of fronts."
Impax Environmental did not propose an interim dividend, in line with the year prior.
"Foremost among these are continuing US-China trade tensions, the unravelling of the Iran nuclear deal, with possible implications for the oil price, and the risk posed by a disorderly Brexit to the UK and EU-27 economies," Scott said. "As the second half of 2018 showed, the company's performance can be vulnerable to factors with little direct bearing on the environmental markets theme."
Impax Asset Management (IEM)