European Assets says that its NAV total return (capital performance with dividends reinvested) for 2023 was 8.2% in Sterling (10.8% in Euros). The Sterling share price total return for the year was 4.9%. These compare with the Benchmark (a blend of MSCI Europe excluding United Kingdom Small Mid Cap (Net Return) Index – which is the benchmark from 1 June 2023 – and EMIX Smaller European Companies (ex UK) Index (net)), which produced a total return of 9.8% in Sterling (12.4% in Euros).
Extract from the managers’ report
Smaller companies underperformed their larger counterparts for the second successive year. Global market leadership was driven by a select group of companies in the US and by the emergence of two dominant themes; Generative Artificial Intelligence and a class of weight loss drugs called GLP-1s. We have exposure to both themes within the portfolio through holdings in semiconductor equipment producers and pharmaceutical packaging companies. However, the strength of these performers was not sufficient to drive outperformance of our Benchmark.
New dividend
The trust is continuing its policy of paying 6% of its NAV as a dividend. Based on the unaudited net asset value of 98.3p for 31 December 2023, the total dividend declared for 2024 will be 5.9p, an increase from 5.8p in 2023. The dividend will be paid in four equal instalments of 1.475p in January, April, July and October 2024.
EAT : European Assets lags benchmark over 2023