Introduction I am pleased to report that the performance of both the Company s Growth and Income shares have improved significantly in the reporting period. The markets we invest in have had a buoyant year. The Benchmark return for both share classes (MSCI Europe ex UK Index in sterling terms) was up 33.5% the year under review and both of the Company s share classes comfortably outperformed the benchmark. Throughout the year, with the ongoing disruption caused by Covid-19, I am pleased to report that the operations and control environment of the Company continued to work well despite the unprecedented change to working practices.
JTC closes Indos acquisition
Specialist fund administrator JTC has completed its acquisition of depositary bank Indos Financial.
Jersey-based JTC paid £11 million (€12.8 million) in a deal that was announced back in February.
More than 50 Indos employees, including founder and chief executive Bill Prew, will become part of JTC’s Institutional Client Services division but the Indos brand will be retained “to demonstrate the integrity and independence of its depositary services under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD)” according to a statement from JTC.
The specialist fund administration market has been the subject of a number of acquisitions in recent months, partly in response to growing investor demand for private assets.
1. Net debt is the total value of loan notes, loans (including notional exposure to CFDs and Total Return Swap) less cash as a proportion of net asset value. 2. Dividends per share are the dividends in respect of the financial year ended 31 March 2021. An interim dividend of 5.20p was paid in January 2021. A final dividend of 9.00p (2020: 8.80p) will be paid on 4 August 2021 to shareholders on the register on 18 June 2021. 3. The NAV Total Return for the year is calculated by reinvesting the dividends in the assets of the Company from the relevant ex-dividend date. Dividends are deemed to be reinvested on the ex-dividend date as this is the protocol used by the Company s benchmark and other indices.