Monks Investment Trust has published its results for the year that ended 30 April 2014. Over the year the fund delivered a total return on net assets of 5.2% which compares to a return on the fund’s benchmark index, the FTSE World Index, of 6.8%. The return to shareholders 5.4%. Dividends for the year were unchanged at 3.95p. At the end of the year the fund had very little gearing and had a put option on Chinese shares listed in Hong Kong that brought the effective gearing on the fund to -1%. Positive contributions to the funds performance came from Sky Deutschland, Anylam Pharmaceuticals, Facebook, Zillow and Xero; offset by falls in the values of the fund’s investments in Nanoco, Kunlun Energy, Imagination Technologies, Ocwen Financial and Westport Innovations. While the market did see a sell-off in technology related companies during the period, each of the negative contributors did experience some hiccup in their business during the year.
