WTAN : Witan benefits from discount narrowing but underlying performance dull
Witan delivered a return to shareholders of 6.9% for the six months ended 30 June 2014. This was almost entirely down to discount narrowing however as the fund shifted to trade on a 1.5% discount. the underlying net asset value total return was 1.1% – behind the return on Witan’s benchmark of 2.3% (the benchmark is the FTSE All-Share Index 40%, the FTSE All-World North America Index 20%, the FTSE All-World Europe (ex UK) Index 20% and the FTSE All-World Asia Pacific Index 20%.)
Looking at the performance of the underlying managers, the worst performing portfolio appears to be that of Landsdowne Partners. Their Global portfolio fell in value by 1.8% while their benchmark rose by 2.7%. By contrast the best performing portfolio was the emerging markets fund managed by Trilogy Global Advisors – this returned 5.6% vs. a benchmark return of 3.0%.