(Alliance News) - JPMorgan American Investment Trust PLC on Tuesday reported a rise in assets over 2019 but was unable to match its benchmark's performance.
At December 31, the trust's NAV per share stood at 504.8 pence, up from the 420.7p recorded at the same point the year before.
JPMorgan's net assets grew by 15% in 2019, rising to GBP1.06 billion from GBP919.2 million the year before.
The trust has opted to delay its final dividend due to the ongoing uncertainty caused by Covid-19, but has, instead, opted to pay a second interim dividend. The result is the trust declaring a 6.5p dividend for 2019, unchanged on the year before.
JPMorgan American's NAV total return in 2019 was 21.6%, behind its benchmark - the S&P 500 index - which gained 26%, in sterling terms, in the same period.
The trust's managers, Timothy Parton and Jonathan Simon, said: "The large companies portfolio posted a positive return, but underperformed the benchmark over the 12 months to the end of December 2019. A poor start to the year relative to the market proved difficult to overcome. Looking at relative performance, our stock selection was disappointing during the period, with the largest detractors coming from the information technology and real estate sectors.
"It is worth mentioning that the US market is now dominated by five mega cap companies, Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (better known as Google), Amazon and Facebook, together comprising almost 17% of the index at year end."
Chair Kevin Carter added: "Any review of 2019 must begin with the recognition that events associated with Covid-19 have caused unprecedented turmoil in global equity markets, rendering 2019 performance and market levels looking like ancient history in a very short space of time. Indeed the speed and extent of downward collapse in the US stock market has been literally unprecedented, drawing comparisons only with the most dramatic of past declines."
At March 31, the S&P 500 index, was down 14.2% in sterling terms year to date, while the company's NAV calculated on the same basis had declined by 19%.
Separately, the trust announced it has hired Claire Binyon as a non-executive director.
Shares in JPMorgan American Investment Trust were 6.9% higher in London on Tuesday at 412.50p each.
By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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JPMorgan American (JAM)