British & American boosted by Geron

British & American has published results for 2015. Net assets at the year end were £30.2m, an increase of 11.4 percent. This compares to decreases in the FTSE 100 and All Share indices of 4.9 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively, over the period. On a total return basis, after adding back dividends paid during the year, net assets increased by 20.0 percent compared to a 1.3 percent decrease and a 1.0 percent increase in the FTSE 100 and All Share indices, respectively.

The directors are recommending an increased final dividend of 5.5p per ordinary share, which together with the interim dividend makes a total payment for the year of 8.2p (2014:  8.0p) per ordinary share. This represents an increase of 2.5 percent over the previous year’s total dividend and a yield of 8.6 percent based on the share price of 95p at the end of the year.

They say this strong outperformance for the year built on the gains already recorded for the first half and was due to a continued recovery in the value of their largest US investment, Geron Corporation, and a strengthening in the value of the US dollar by 5 percent. The recovery  followed an important partnership agreement entered into with Johnson & Johnson at the end of 2014.

BAF : British & American boosted by Geron