BlackRock Throgmorton Trust has released its interim figures. These cover the six months ended 31 May 2014. Over that period the net asset value total return was 2.7% – representing a small underperformance of the fund’s benchmark (the Numis Smaller Companies excluding AIM (excluding Investment Companies) Index), which returned 4.1%. The discount widened as well so the return to shareholders was 1.5%. The interim dividend was upped from 0.75p to 0.80p. Richard Plackett is midway through his six month sabbatical and Ralph Cox is managing the fund’s CFD portfolio.
The manager’s report says holdings in Blinkx, Hyder Consulting and ITE Group detracted from performance (two which, Blinkx and ITE, were also held as long CFD positions). this was offset by good performance from stocks such as Optimal Payments and Canaccord Genuity.