Keystone Investment Trust Net Asset Value Falls As Chair Set To Depart

LONDON (Alliance News) - Keystone Investment Trust PLC said Tuesday its annual net asset value per share shrank by 2.9% as it underperformed its benchmark.

For the year ended September 30, the trust posted net asset value per share of 1,921.7 pence, down from 1,979.9p a year ago.

There was no net asset value total return for the year, compared to a positive 7.8% return the year before. Over the year, the company's benchmark, the FTSE All-Share Index returned 5.9%.

Keystone attributed the "poor" results to challenging market conditions which "have not favoured the company's UK-focused approach".

"Although there were some strong performances from holdings in the portfolio, these were offset by others where stock-specific factors had a significant negative impact, such as N Brown [Group PLC], TP ICAP [PLC], McBride [PLC] and Barclays [PLC]," it said.

Chairman Beatrice Hollond, who will leave the company in January after 15 years, said: "The three-year performance now lags significantly behind our benchmark, with NAV total return performance of 13.3% compared with 38.4% for the FTSE All-Share Index, and the board recognises that this will be very disappointing for shareholders."

In terms of payout, the trust declared a total dividend for the year of 56p per share, up from 55p a year ago. It also decided to pass onto shareholders a special dividend of 1.75p received from investee companies. A year ago, the special dividend amounted to 4.70p.

Keystone shares were trading down 0.7% at 1,551.25 pence each.