RIT Capital net assets reach a new all-time high

RIT Capital Partners published its interim results for the six months to 30 June on Monday, with total net assets standing at a new all-time high of £2.5bn.

The FTSE 250 firm’s net asset value total return for the period was 3.6%, while net assets grew a total of £87.9m before distributions.

Its net asset value per share hit 1,613p at period end, with its average premium over the period 4.2%.

The board paid a dividend of 15.5p per share in April, and declared a dividend of 15.5p per share to be paid in October, representing a 3.3% rise over the prior year.

“The six months under review have seen central bankers continuing what is surely the greatest experiment in monetary policy in the history of the world,” said RIT Capital chairman Lord Rothschild.

“We are therefore in uncharted waters and it is impossible to predict the unintended consequences of very low interest rates, with some 30% of global government debt at negative yields, combined with quantitative easing on a massive scale.”

Rothschild said that given the conditions, preservation of capital in real terms continued to be as important an objective as any in the management of the company's assets.

“In respect of [RIT’s] asset allocation, on quoted equities we have reduced our exposure from 55% to 44%.

“Our sterling exposure was significantly reduced over the period to 34%, and currently stands at approximately 25%,” he explained.

“We increased gold and precious metals to 8% by the end of June.”

Rothschild said the company also increased its allocation to absolute return and credit, which delivered positive returns over the period...

“The outcome of our efforts over a difficult period has been for [the] company's net asset value at the end of June to have increased by 3.6% (including dividends) to 1,613 pence per share.

“Our latest NAV at the end of July was 1,651 pence per share, representing an increase of 2.3% over the month,” he added.