RNS Number:4968S
F&C Capital & Income Inv Tst PLC
26 November 2003
Date: 25 November 2003
Contact: Julian Cane, F&C Management Ltd, 020 7628 8000 /
Lisa Stanley, Lansons Communications, 020 7294 3692
F&C CAPITAL AND INCOME INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
Unaudited Preliminary Statement of Results for the year ended 30 September 2003
Highlights
* The share price rose strongly during the year increasing by 17.3%. This
was mainly due to the increase in NAV per share.
* The Company is recommending a final dividend of 3.30p per share, giving a
total for the year of 5.35p. This is an increase of 1.9% on the previous
year and the 10th successive increase.
* The Company is requesting permission from shareholders to buy and re-issue
shares from treasury.
* The share price traded at an average discount to net asset value of 0.7%
over the year.
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
30 Sep 30 Sep %
Attributable to equity shareholders 2003 2002 change
Net assets #79.47m #70.06m +13.4
Net asset value per share 158.46p 140.96p +12.4
Earnings per share 5.28p 4.93p +7.1
Dividends per share 5.35p 5.25p +1.9
Share price 159.00p 135.50p +17.3
F&C CAPITAL AND INCOME INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
Unaudited Preliminary Statement of Results for the year ended 30 September 2003
Chairman's Statement
Dear Shareholder
Over the year to 30 September 2003, the capital performance of your Company was
narrowly behind the FTSE All-Share Index, as net asset value (NAV) and the Index
rose 12.4% and 12.6% respectively. The share price rose by somewhat more,
increasing by 17.3%.
The directors are recommending a final dividend of 3.30 pence per share to give
a total for the year of 5.35 pence, an increase of 1.9% on the previous year.
Capital Performance
After two years of heavy falls, it is encouraging to record rises in the share
price, NAV and stockmarkets over the year. There was no smooth trend in the
market, as an initial strong rally during October and November 2002 petered out,
before the market moved down again; this caused the stock market and NAV to be
lower after six months of our financial year to March. Furthermore, the
performance of our NAV per share was 1.7% behind the Index at this interim
stage. However, the stock market performed better in the second half of the
year as the war in Iraq came to a swift conclusion and as expectations increased
of a rapid return to growth for the world's main economies. Your Company was
able to make good most of its initial relative underperformance and almost draw
level again with the Index by the financial year end.
As a result of strong performance relative to the stock market in previous
periods, your Company's record over the medium- and long-term remains well ahead
of the FTSE All-Share benchmark Index.
Dividend Performance
The revenue account of your Company has seen a considerable improvement over the
last year as net revenue after tax is 6.9% higher than the prior period. This
has come about as a result of an increase in dividends received, despite a
number of dividend reductions over the last twelve months, and a decrease in
expenses, primarily because of a smaller management fee as average assets were
lower than last year.
The proposed dividend increase is 1.9% and is the tenth successive increase.
Although this is not fully covered by current year earnings, the revenue reserve
is still close to #1m. The dividend for the year to September 2003 is more than
57% greater than the dividend for the year to September 1993, which was the
Company's first year of activity; the increase in the dividend over this period
is more than twice the increase in the RPI.
F&C CAPITAL AND INCOME INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
Unaudited Preliminary Statement of Results for the year ended 30 September 2003
Total Return
The Company's formal objective is to secure long-term capital and income growth.
This can be summarised within a total return statistic, which records the
changes in NAV per share and adds back the dividends paid to investors.
As a result of the capital performance noted above and steady dividend
progression, the total return from your Company exceeds the total return of the
FTSE All-Share Index over the last five years.
Share Buy-Backs / New Issues
In September 2002, the Board adopted a more aggressive buy-back strategy with
two objectives. The new strategy was aimed at reducing the volatility of the
discount to NAV at which the Company's shares trade and also targeted at
reducing the level of the discount, such that the shares should not stand at any
material discount to NAV. This policy has been successful over the last year,
as the chart of the discount to NAV shows. The average discount over the last
year was 0.7% with the largest discount being 7.3%.
As well as buying shares when there is excess supply in the market, the Board
has also issued shares when the shares have traded at a premium to NAV and there
has been excess demand. In total over the year, 821,000 shares were
bought-back, while 1,268,000 shares were issued.
Treasury Shares
From 1 December 2003, investment trusts will be able to buy shares, hold them in
treasury and then subsequently re-issue them. This would in practice replicate
what the Company already does through its share buy-back and share issue
programmes, but through the elimination of listing fees on the re-issuance of
shares from treasury, it would be considerably cheaper. Because of this
advantage, the Board is requesting shareholders' permission to buy and re-issue
shares from treasury. The Board is committed to only buying the Company's
shares when they trade at a discount to NAV, and to issuing shares when they
trade at a premium to NAV.
Share Price Performance
As noted above the share price rose strongly during the year. Clearly the main
determinant of this was the increase in NAV per share, but the shares also
benefited from a reduction in the discount as the share buyback strategy of the
Board took effect. At the start of the year, the shares traded at a discount of
3.9% to NAV, but at the end, they traded at a small premium.
F&C CAPITAL AND INCOME INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
Unaudited Preliminary Statement of Results for the year ended 30 September 2003
Directors
The Board is delighted to welcome Pen Kent as a director of your Company. He
has a wealth of experience, most notably as a former executive director of the
Bank of England, that should prove to be of great benefit to your Company.
Prospects
The immediate prospects for the UK economy and stockmarket are moderate. The UK
economy has surprised with its resilience throughout the year, but the growth
has really stemmed from additional consumer and government expenditure and
enormous levels of new debt. This has resulted in a somewhat unbalanced economy
and the Bank of England has now started to raise interest rates in order to keep
future inflation within its targeted levels. The side-effect of increased
interest rates on consumers with such large debts is difficult to judge, but
there must be a risk that if rates need to increase materially, consumer
expenditure could fall back abruptly. Assuming this does not happen, the
outlook is for modest levels of economic growth.
As a result of the stockmarket rally, share valuations are no longer as
attractive as they were in March, but, despite this, there are many companies
that are reasonably valued. Certainly, equities still appear to offer good
value compared to alternative investments such as cash or bonds and the Board
believes good stock selection should enable your Company to continue to perform
well.
Graham Ross Russell
November 2003
F&C CAPITAL AND INCOME INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
Unaudited Preliminary Statement of Results for the year ended 30 September 2003
Unaudited Statement of Total Return (incorporating the Revenue Account*)
for the year ended 30 September
2003 2002
Revenue Capital Total Revenue Capital Total
#'000s #'000s #'000s #'000s #'000s #'000s
Gains/(losses) on investments - 8,945 8,945 - (16,819) (16,819)
Exchange gains on currency balances 2 12 14 8 3 11
Income 3,047 - 3,047 2,869 - 2,869
Management fee (175) (175) (350) (209) (209) (418)
Other expenses (208) (12) (220) (173) (11) (184)
Net return before finance costs and
taxation 2,666 8,770 11,436 2,495 (17,036) (14,541)
Interest payable and similar charges (18) (18) (36) (15) (15) (30)
Return on ordinary
Activities before taxation 2,648 8,752 11,400 2,480 (17,051) (14,571)
Taxation on ordinary activities (19) - (19) (20) - (20)
Return attributable to equity
shareholders 2,629 8,752 11,381 2,460 (17,051) (14,591)
Dividends on ordinary shares (equity):
Interim dividend of 2.05p (2002:2.00p) (1,011) - (1,011) (986) - (986)
Proposed final dividend of 3.30p
(2002: 3.25p) (1,655) - (1,655) (1,615) - (1,615)
(2,666) - (2,666) (2,601) - (2,601)
Amount transferred (from)/to
Reserves (37) 8,752 8,715 (141) (17,051) (17,192)
Return per ordinary share - pence 5.28 17.57 22.85 4.93 (34.18) (29.25)
* The revenue column of the statement is the profit and loss account of the
Company.
All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing
operations.
F&C CAPITAL AND INCOME INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
Unaudited Preliminary Statement of Results for the year ended 30 September 2003
Unaudited Balance Sheet at 30 September
2003 2002
#'000s #'000s
Fixed assets
Investments* 81,384 70,419
Current assets
Debtors 1,112 492
Taxation recoverable 19 19
Cash at bank 15 917
1,146 1,428
Current liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year:
Other creditors (3,064) (1,786)
(3,064) (1,786)
Net current liabilities (1,918) (358)
Net assets 79,466 70,061
Capital and reserves
Called up equity share capital 12,537 12,425
Capital redemption reserve 2,537 2,332
Share premium 17,955 16,394
Special reserve 17,516 18,704
Capital reserves 27,943 19,191
Revenue reserve 978 1,015
Total equity shareholders' funds 79,466 70,061
Net asset value per ordinary share
- pence 158.46 140.96
*Geographical distribution of the investments at 30 September 2003 was:
UK 91.6% (2002: 92.3%)
Continental Europe 8.4% (2002: 7.7%)
F&C CAPITAL AND INCOME INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
Unaudited Preliminary Statement of Results for the year ended
30 September 2003
Unaudited Cash Flow Statement
for the year ended 30 September
2003 2002
#'000s #'000s
Net cash inflow from operating
activities 2,367 2,336
Interest paid (36) (30)
Total tax paid (25) (29)
Net cash (outflow)/ inflow from
financial investment (1,884) 1,533
Equity dividends paid (2,626) (2,572)
Net cash (outflow) inflow before
use of liquid resources and
financing (2,204) 1,238
Decrease/(increase)
in short-term deposits 600 (200)
Net cash inflow/(outflow)
from financing 1,289 (1,063)
Decrease in cash (315) (25)
The Directors recommend a final dividend of 3.30p (2002: 3.25p) per share
payable on 30 January 2004 to shareholders registered on 5 January 2004.
The financial information set out in this announcement does not constitute the
Company's statutory accounts for the years ended 30 September 2003 or 30
September 2002. The financial information for the year ended 30 September 2002
has been extracted from the statutory accounts for that year which have been
delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The auditors' report on those accounts
was unqualified and did not contain a statement under either Section 237(2) or
Section 237(3) of the Companies Act 1985. The statutory accounts for the year
ended 30 September 2003 will be finalised on the basis of the financial
information presented by the directors in this preliminary announcement and will
be delivered to the Registrar of Companies following the Company's Annual
General Meeting.
The Report & Accounts will be posted to shareholders towards the end of
December 2003. Copies may be obtained during normal business hours from the
Company's Registered Office, Exchange House, Primrose Street, London EC2A 2NY.
By order of the Board
F&C Management Limited - Secretary
25 November 2003
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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