Manchester & London Investment Trust PLC - technology-focused growth-stock investor - Net asset value per share on January 31, the end of the trust's financial first half, is 614.92 pence, down 7.6% from 665.43p on July 31. Total return to shareholders in the six months is negative 6.6%, compared to positive 6.2% for the trust's benchmark, the MSCI UK Investable Market Index. Declares 7.00p interim dividend, unchanged on a year before, plus a 7.00p special dividend, versus no such payout a year prior.
The special dividend is in celebration of Manchester & London's 50th anniversary, having listed in London in 1972. Chair Daniel Wright says the half-year underperformance was due to the trust's holdings in the Hong Kong market and in Nasdaq-listed software stocks in New York, both of which declined. It prefers to hold software stocks, rather than hardware stocks such as Tesla Inc and Apple Inc, despite the outperformance of that pair in the recent half, he says.
Current stock price: 448.92p
12-month change: down 22%
By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Manchester&lon. (MNL)