Smaller Companies Dividend Trust has reported its annual figures covering the year to the end of April 2015. Over this period the total return on the portfolio was 6.9%, adjusting for the effects of the zero dividend preference shares, this made the return in the net asset value of the ordinary shares 7.2%. The ordinary share price fell by 13.7% however as the discount widened from 1.9% to 17.0%. The dividend was increased by 4.4% to 7.125p and they also declared a 0.3p special dividend. The Board reminded investors that they are still trying to equalise the four interim dividends.
The manager says two companies in the portfolio succumbed to takeover bids (Office2Office and Nationwide Accident Repair Centres), one merged (ACM Shipping) and since the end of the period they have seen another bid, for Phoenix IT. They expect the trend of increasing M&A activity to continue and that this will benefit the portfolio.
They give a long list of stocks that have been sold from the portfolio, most after doing well, including Cineworld, Ladbrokes and Tritax Big Box REIT,
SDV : Small Companies Dividend hoping for M&A uptick