Mercantile has announced results for the year ended 31 January 2016. It outperformed its benchmark with a Net Asset Value return of 12.9% (cum income, debt at par) against 4.7% for the benchmark. The share price total return was 18.6%. They paid three interim dividends of 10.0p per ordinary share over the year under review, and the Board has declared a fourth quarterly interim dividend of 13.0p, giving a total dividend of 43.0p for the year, an increase of 2.0p on last year’s total dividend of 41.0p.
Guy Anderson has now assumed the leadership of the J.P. Morgan investment management team responsible for managing the Company’s portfolio. The team comprises Guy Anderson, Martin Hudson and Anthony Lynch. They are supported by Tim Lewis, an analyst, as well as the J.P. Morgan Asset Management European Equity Group.
The most significant contributions came from the beverages sector with Mercantile’s holding in the premium mixer brand Fever-Tree performing particularly well. In the leisure sector holdings in Betfair, the online betting exchange, and Domino’s Pizza, the market leading pizza delivery business, were notable contributors.
At a sector level, the largest detractor from performance was the Software & Computer Services sector, as the fund did not hold Telecity, which outperformed following bid approaches from two of its peers. The largest individual detractor at a stock level was the holding in Poundland, where a Phase II competition review delayed the proposed acquisition of 99p stores and underlying trading was impacted by lower footfall on the high street.
MRC : New manager for Mercantile