Merchants Trust’s results for the 12 months ended 31 January 2024 show the trust lagging the +1.9% return posted by the All-Share Index, with NAV returns of -3.1% for the year. The statement makes no mention of the return to shareholders over the period, but does note that the shares traded at a premium to NAV for much of the time – averaging a premium of 0.9% for 2024 (2023: 1.0%) as demand for the shares continued to be strong. This led Merchants to have a good record of share issuance over the period, issuing £46m worth.
The full year dividend is 28.4p, up 2.9% on the prior year. This was covered by earnings of 30.5p, which were up 6.3% on the previous period. The revenue reserve now stands at 18.1p per share.
The chairman notes that “the period under review was a difficult one for the more modestly priced stocks that our manager tends to favour due to his ‘value’ investment style. Whilst this produced a relatively disappointing 1-year picture for Merchants shareholders, the longer-term record remains strong, with outperformance of both the industry benchmark, as well as the sector peer average, over 3 and 5 years.”
The manager’s statement didn’t make it into the announcement and the annual report is not on the trust’s website yet.
MRCH : Merchants Trust rakes in the cash despite lagging benchmark last year