Scottish American interims covering the six months ended 30 June 2015 show the fund beating the FTSE All World Index with the net asset value total return being 4% vs. 2.2% for the index. Shareholders did even better as the fund moved to trading on a large premium (currently over 8%); the return to shareholders was 10.4%. Revenue is behind last year and they think it might be behind for the year as a whole. Nevertheless, a first interim dividend of 2.65p was paid at the end of June and the second interim dividend of 2.675p is payable at the end of September. The total amount of dividends, 5.325p, is 1.9% higher than the amount paid for the corresponding period in 2014.
Their global equity portfolio outperformed the index as did their property portfolio, returning 4.1% and 5.5% respectively. The statement says the financial services sector was an area of particular strength with holdings of securities exchanges Deutsche Börse and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing performing well. The portfolio also benefitted from corporate activity with the announced acquisitions of portfolio constituents Rexam and BG Group.
SCAM : Scottish American moves to big premium