Dunedin Income & Growth outperformed the FTSE All-Share Index by 4% over the year that ended on 31 January 2015, over the period the fund’s net asset value total return was 11.1% vs. 7.1% for the Index. The return to shareholders was just 6.8% however as the shares moved from trading on a 1.6% premium to a 2.5% discount. Total dividends for the year edged up from 11.1p to 11.25p.
Jeremy Whitley’s manager’s statement highlights the importance of good management to the success of the companies that they invest in and cites the example of Cobham and the potential for recovery at Tesco and Centrica.
Companies that aided the fund’s outperformance included Provident Financial, Prudential, Sage, Unibail-Rodamco, Pearson, Unilever and British American Tobacco. Some of these were companies that had performed badly in earlier periods. Pearson had announced a substantial profit warning in January 2014 but over the next twelve months managed to stabilise trading and, the managers say, is now looking forward to a return to growth in 2015.
DIG : Bet on good management says Dunedin Income Growth