Scottish Investment Trust has published interim results for the six months ended 30 April 2015. Over the period the fund produced a return on net assets of 9.8% which compares to returns on the FTSE All-World Index and FTSE All-Share Index of 9.6% and 9.2% respectively.
The manager’s report goes into the portfolio in some detail. The equity part of the portfolio returned 10.5%. Consumer Goods holdings produced the highest total return for the portfolio. The largest contribution was from Pandora, whose branded jewellery remains very popular, while G-III Apparel enjoyed success with the Calvin Klein brand in the US. Continental and Toyota Motor both benefited from strength in the global automotive sector. In the Industrials sector returned , the largest individual gains were from Dürr, which made a well-received acquisition, and Adecco, the Switzerland-based recruitment agency. The only loss was from Weir. In Financials, the largest holding, Sampo, delivered a solid performance and an increased dividend. British Land benefited from a strong UK commercial property market, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group gained on the improved outlook for Japan. Chinese internet holdings delivered a mixed performance with a good gain from Tencent but a loss from Baidu. Apple enjoyed particularly strong new iPhone sales and NXP Semiconductors made a potentially transformational acquisition. Qualcomm suffered from regulatory concerns. In Consumer Services the largest individual gain was from US retailer Ross Stores. Comcast gained from increased internet broadband usage but withdrew from a proposed deal for Time Warner Cable. Sands China suffered from a slowdown in gaming revenues in Macau, while a new purchase of Wal-Mart Stores proved ill-timed as operating costs increased. Health Care’s largest contribution came from UnitedHealth, which continues to benefit from developments in the US healthcare market. Biogen also gained owing to strong sales of their multiple sclerosis drug. Smaller contributions were made by investments in the Telecommunications, Utilities and Basic Materials sectors. The returns from their Oil & Gas holdings were flat over the period despite the fall in the oil price as Baker Hughes was bid for.
SCIN : Scottish Investment Trust reports good start to 2015