Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust beats index
Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust said today it beat its reference index in the last financial year.
Its total return for the year to the end of June was 24.8 per cent, compared to the Numis Smaller Companies Plus AIM Excluding Investment Companies Index which had a return of eight per cent.
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The trust proposed a dividend of 5.5p per share, taking its pay out for the year to 7p, a 4.5 per cent increase on the 6.7p the previous year.
The trust said its strong performance was down to its bets on the healthcare, software, food and drink and electronics sectors, although a lack of investments in industrials did have a negative impact.
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The trust’s chair Allister Langlands said: "Last year I wrote of three events that had been largely unforeseen and which would be expected to have a significant bearing on the macro-economic landscape. Twelve months later, two of those issues, the Brexit negotiations and the decisions of Donald Trump, continue to influence market movements and the geopolitical backdrop."
"The remaining challenge identified last year, that of the UK being run by a minority government, does seem to have been less problematic than we had anticipated, but the evolving Brexit negotiations still have the ability to test that."