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7 Feb 2023 07:00
RIT CAPITAL PARTNERS PLC (LEI: P31Q1NLTW35JJGHA4667)
7 February 2023
December 2022 Preliminary Unaudited Net Asset Value
The preliminary, unaudited, diluted net asset value of RIT Capital Partners plc (the Company) as at 31 December 2022 (with debt at fair value) was 2,388p per £1 ordinary share (30 November 2022: 2,454p).
This represented a decline of -2.7% for the month of December, outperforming the MSCI ACWI (50% £) which fell -5.0% in the month. The outperformance was driven by our quoted equity book, and positive contributions from both our absolute return & credit book as well as real assets. The NAV reflected the six-monthly revaluation of our direct private investments to 31 December 2022, and, as normal, the 30 September valuations from external managers for ~94% of our private funds (with around 6% at 31 December).
2022 Preliminary Unaudited Performance
Last year was one of the most challenging years for financial markets for more than a decade, with a multitude of issues causing almost all asset classes to decline during the year. The S&P 500, the NASDAQ and the FTSE 250 closed down -18%, -32% and -17% respectively. Government bonds provided no safe harbour, with long-term US and UK bonds losing -29% and -40% respectively. Our NAV was not immune from these pressures, with a preliminary, unaudited NAV per share total return (including dividends) of -13.3% compared to the ACWI of -12.9%. With inflation at multi-year highs, our inflation measure of CPI+3.0%, was 13.5% for the year.
Key factors impacting our return for the year were:
- | Retaining one of our lowest quoted equity exposures in a decade, coupled with action we took within the quoted equity portfolio, helped limit the downside. Nevertheless, this book saw a negative contribution of around -6.7%; |
- | Private investments detracted by -6.2% of NAV, split broadly equally across the directs and funds, giving back a portion of the ~+34% NAV contribution across 2020 and 2021; |
- | Our absolute return and credit book held up reasonably well, albeit with some mixed performance from our macro managers; |
- | Through our currency positioning, we ensured that much of our exposure was held outside the weakening sterling, resulting in a positive contribution for the year. |
While any short-term decline in NAV is uncomfortable, our aims and objectives are long term. Over the last three years our NAV returned a preliminary ~25% against the ACWI at 17.7%. Similarly, our 5-year performance of around 41% compares favourably to the ACWI at 35.5%, and over 10-years our NAV (including dividends) has grown by approximately 140%.
As normal at this stage of our year end, the preliminary NAV is an estimate and remains subject to adjustment and audit. Full details will be included in the 2022 Annual Report & Accounts, which is expected to be published at the end of February.
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