Private equity drives Foreign & Colonial trust returns in first half

Jeremy Tigue's £2.1bn Foreign & Colonial investment trust's half-year report shows its holdings in listed private equity drove performance, accounting for 11% of returns.

According to the trust’s results for the six months to 30 June, 2011, the portfolio saw its net asset value per share climb 3.5% to 358.25p, while the share price climbed 3.3% to 319.8p. The trust maintained its interim dividend per share maintained at 3p, and is expecting to pay a total dividend for the year of at least 6.75p on 9 September. The company chairman, Simon Fraser, said the portfolio had had a positive first half as result of rising private equity valuations and strong dividend growth. “There have been two very positive trends in our private equity portfolio. Strong gr...