Brunner Investment Trust PLC (LON:BUT) outperformed its benchmark comparison index in the year to the end of November, it told investors.
The company’s net asset value per share on a net dividends basis (with debt priced at fair value) rose by 6.2% in a year when for at least half of that period the global economy was rocked by the coronavirus pandemic.
In contrast, the company’s preferred benchmark measure comprising 70% of the FTSE World index (excluding the UK) and 30% of the FTSE All-Share index rose by 5.3% on a total return basis over the same period.
The period was characterised by a number of companies suspending dividend payments during the period of uncertainty and as a result, the investment trust’s earnings per share declined to 16.0p from 21.7p the year before.
Many companies are now resuming dividend payments and this has given the board the confidence to maintain the company’s status as a “dividend hero” – a company that has increased the dividend every year over decades – with the full-year dividend rising to 20.06p from 19.98p in 2019 after the payment of a fourth-quarter dividend of 6.05p.
Assuming shareholders approve the recommended final dividend, it will mark the 49th year of dividend increases by the trust.
The trust’s portfolio managers are expecting a strong economic recovery this year as the vaccine roll-out allows lockdowns to reduce and more normal working conditions to emerge; however, there is a danger that new virus strains may delay that, the company noted in its results statement.
If the recovery is not as strong as hoped, the company believes its strategy of carefully buying high-quality companies will continue to hold it in good stead.