Return halved at Edinburgh Investment Trust

10th Nov 2011 09:06

Edinburgh Investment Trust more than halved its return year-on-year for the six months ended 30 September. Total return after tax fell from £42.4m to £18.2m after capital dropped into the red and revenue fell by almost £2m to £21m. Return per share was down from 21.7p to 9.3p on a like for like basis. The firm has issued a dividend of 5p (2010: 4.75p), which is aimed principally atspreading the dividend more evenly over the year rather than signaling theorder of magnitude of any increase in the total dividend for the year, the company said. In a statement the firm said: "The increasingly tough economic outlook is not a surprise to the manager and he maintains his view that the developed world faces a prolonged period of low economic growth and the company is positioned accordingly. "The manager believes that there are certain types of companies that can thrive in this environment, delivering sustainable dividends and earnings growth. He believes the equity market sell-off has left many of these strongly placed companies looking even more attractive and remains confident about the outlook for long-term returns." The share price fell 0.89% for 454.2p by 16:48.NR