RIT Capital Partners posted a NAV total return of 9.4% in its 2024 annual results, with all three investment pillars – quoted equities, private investments, and uncorrelated strategies – delivering positive returns.
Click here to read our result analysis research note and here to watch RCP’s manager Maggie Fanari detail the results.
NAV was up 7.7% over the year to 2,614p per share. Including dividends of 39.0p, the NAV total return was 9.4%. This compares to returns on its reference performance benchmarks – CPI +3% and the MSCI ACWI (50% sterling) – of 5.5% and 20.1% respectively.
The company’s quoted equities portfolio (which now makes up 46.2% of the portfolio) was up 15.8% over the year, helped by the performance of its small- and mid-cap holdings and the performance of its specialist manager partners in China and Japan.
Following two negative years, returns from the company’s private investments portfolio (which make up 33.4% of the wider portfolio) were 4.8%. Fund investments were the biggest contributor, while direct investments were broadly flat. The company made £170m of realisations during the year, as IPO conditions and M&A activity improved.
The company also invested in SpaceX, the private space launch and satellite communications company, in a move that could be a source of superior returns for years to come.
Menawhile, uncorrelated strategies (23.8% of the portfolio) returned 4.5%, with positive returns from credit, macro and market-neutral strategies partially offset by declines in gilts and carbon credits.
The company’s share price total return over the year was 7.9%, reflecting the trust’s discount widening by 1.6 percentage points to 24.0%. Having bought back £80m shares in the year, the board has signalled its confidence in the NAV and continues to allocate capital to buybacks in 2025.
Strong operational performance has led the company to propose a 10.3% dividend uplift for 2025 to 43.0p per share, which would be the twelfth successive year of dividend growth.
Maggie Fanari, chief executive of RIT Capital’s manager J Rothschild Investment Management, said: “2024 was a year of solid progress for the Company, and we enter 2025 with the portfolio well positioned for continued growth. Our Quoted Equities pillar delivered mid-teen returns, while in Private Investments we enhanced performance and realisations and our SpaceX investment demonstrates our ability to access exclusive opportunities not typically available to individual investors. While macroeconomic uncertainties remain, we believe our flexible and resilient portfolio is well positioned to take advantage of global opportunities across asset classes while managing risks, and to deliver returns in line with our long-term trend.”
Chair Sir James Leigh-Pemberton to retire
The company’s chair Sir James Leigh-Pemberton announced that he would retire at the AGM in May, after six years on the board, due to increased demands from his wider commitments. He will be replaced by senior independent director Philippe Costeletos, subject to his re-election at the AGM.
Sir James said: “Succeeding Lord Rothschild as your Chairman has been an honour and a privilege, and I want to thank both my Board colleagues for their dedication, support and wise counsel over the years, and likewise colleagues at our subsidiaries, our Manager, JRCM and our property and events business, Spencer House Limited, for their hard work, energy and professionalism. Maggie Fanari has been in her new role as CEO of JRCM since March 2024, and the Board is pleased with the scope and pace of the progress that she and her team have already made this year. I have every confidence that the culture of performance and collaboration which is the hallmark of RIT, will continue and will be enhanced under our Company’s new leadership team, and I look forward to retaining a close interest in progress as a long-term shareholder.”
