Ben Ritchie

The trust’s share price total return per ordinary share over the same period also rose by 12.6%. This compares to the FTSE All-Share Index total return of 12.6%.

Revenue return per ordinary share stood at 7.35p, compared to 6.14p the year before.

The trust has also announced a dividend yield of 4.1%, compared to the 4.5% announced in January 2021.

Ben Ritchie and Georgina Cooper, investment managers of the trust, said: “After an eventful 2020, the market since rebounded strongly, reflecting a combination of economic recovery, a resolution to many of the long-running issues surrounding Brexit and a significant bounce back in corporates’ earnings.

“While our more defensive tilt resulted in the Company modestly lagging these strong returns from the wider market, we were able to report strong performance of both capital and income for the period. We believe the Company is well balanced in this evolving market environment to participate in further economic recovery whilst also retaining a close eye on capital preservation should conditions deteriorate.

“There was a clear distinction in performance over the period, with the strong value and cyclical rally seen in the first quarter of the year unfavourable to our higher quality, more defensive strategy, while the second quarter saw fears over the Covid Delta variant and the sustainability of the recovery drive a better relative outcome for the portfolio. As such we were pleased to deliver robust absolute performance against a strong benchmark return.”

Commenting on the outlook, David Barron, chairman, added: “Equity markets have rebounded exceptionally strongly since the low-point of the pandemic in March 2021. From here, the essential question remains whether the economic recovery that is underway can be sustained.

“While economic data remains relatively strong, there are some signs of slowing momentum amidst the negative impact of virus variants and growing inflationary pressures crimping both consumption and corporate profit margins. We are also seeing a rapidly increasing emphasis being placed on sustainability by all stakeholders, from shareholders to customers to governments.

“The Company’s Investment Manager believes the outlook to be finely balanced with convincing arguments to be made for a range of potential scenarios. As such, they are keeping a disciplined focus on higher-quality businesses, but at the same time looking to participate in upside growth opportunities where they present themselves.

“At the same time, they are maintaining a keen focus on managing emerging environmental and social risks consistent with delivering your Company’s strategy.”