Brexit is likely to be more "business friendly" than first feared by many in the market, according to the managers of the £480m JP Morgan Claverhouse Investment Trust, as they announced an increased dividend for the six months to 30 June.
The trust is managed by Will Meadon and Sarah Emley.
In the results statement released this morning (7 August), the managers said a likely consequence of the current government lacking an overall majority in parliament is there will be a "more business friendly Brexit."
The managers said that the hung parliament also means interest rates won't rise in the near term, and this is "supportive" of equities.
The Claverhouse Investment Trust is a UK Equity Income fund that has increased its dividend for each of the past 44 years.
For the six months to 30 June 2017, the trust reported the dividend is 5.5p for each quarter, an increase on the 5p per quarter paid for the same period last year.
The results statement said the trust intends to keep the dividend at the same level for the third quarter of this year. The current dividend yield of the trust is 3.6 per cent.
In total return terms, the trust marginally outperformed the AIC UK Equity Income sector, returning 9.5 per cent against the 9.1 per cent for the sector.
The JP Morgan Claverhouse Investment Trust trades at a discount to net assets of 8.9 per cent.
Reviewing the first half of the year, the managers of the trust said a brace of consumer stocks helped performance.
"Fever-Tree, the fast growing premium mixer company was again the fund's best performer, with its share price rising another 50 per cent over the six months.
"This remarkable company which employs only 50 people now has a market capitalisation of almost £2bn as global demand for its suite of mixers continues to significantly beat expectations."
The second stock they highlighted is JD Sports. which they said performed "extremely well" in the period in question.
The managers said: "Our holdings in Melrose Industries, Synthomer and 3i were all added to during the period and they all continued to perform well, delivering positive news flow and encouraging outlook statements.
"We also added to our recent purchase of Electrocomponents, the electronic equipment distributor where a new management team is adding significant shareholder value. Other new holdings included the specialist construction group Morgan Sindall and the bank note printer, De la Rue."
The managers of the trust have the capacity to deploy gearing up to 17.5 per cent, the current level is 12.7 per cent.
The largest investments in the trust are Royal Dutch Shell and HSBC Holdings.
