RIT Capital Partners delivered a 6.4% return on net assets for the first half of 2015 and an 11.8% return to shareholders, both of which compare well to the 2% return on RPI+3% per annum and 3% return on the MSCI AC World Index. The dividends for the first half totalled 30p, 2% higher than last year.
They believe bond yields are unsustainably low and so they raised £151m in long-dated notes with a coupon of 3.45%. The notes are unsecured with a weighted average life of approximately 16 years. The proceeds were used to repay part of their floating rate credit facilities.
Almost all of the return came from their quoted equity portfolio (68% of assets at the end of June). The statement doesn’t break down the performance attribution in any greater detail and there is no mention of the contribution of individual investments.
RCP : RIT Capital issues long-term debt