BAF British & American Investment Trust Plc

 
TIDMBAF 
 
BRITISH & AMERICAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC 
 
           COVID-19 UPDATE  -   ANNOUNCEMENT OF RESULTS AND DIVIDEND 
 
1. Announcement of Results 
 
On 26th March, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) extended the deadline for 
the announcement of listed company results from four months to six months after 
year end, in response to the government's work-from-home and social distancing 
guidelines to combat the Coronavirus pandemic.  This deadline extension is 
designed to assist companies to put in place measures to reduce as much as 
possible employee exposure to the virus and to minimise onward transmission as 
the peak of the epidemic approaches over the coming weeks, placing maximum 
pressure on hospitals and the NHS. 
 
As a small company based in London with auditors based in Cheltenham, we 
welcome the FCA's deadline extension which will allow us to reduce employee 
travel/office attendance and professional adviser contact/workload over the 
coming weeks. 
 
Accordingly, we will postpone the announcement of our 2019 financial year 
results from end April to end June.  This later date will also enable us to 
report to shareholders in a fuller and more informed way when more is known 
about the progression and effects of the epidemic and the longevity of  the 
government's social and financial response to the epidemic. By that time, 
markets generally could be expected to have stabilised from their currently 
dislocated state and the longer term impact of the epidemic on our portfolio 
and prospects should be clearer . 
 
As a corollary, the date of our AGM will also be delayed. The FCA is currently 
considering changes to the rules surrounding the timing and method of holding 
AGMs in these exceptional circumstances and we understand that further 
information on this will be made available in due course. 
 
2. Dividend 
 
In response to government pressure, major banks and insurance companies have 
cancelled already announced 2019 dividend payments and  suspended planned 2020 
payments.  This is to conserve resources to assist in the government's 
emergency funding programmes to support companies and individuals through the 
Coronavirus crisis.  In addition, many other leading companies have similarly 
cancelled or suspended their dividend payments to conserve resources, 
particularly in those industries with operations or receipts badly disrupted by 
the epidemic's effects, including transport, leisure, hospitality, 
manufacturing and utilities. 
 
This systemic reduction in dividend payments will have a significant, if 
hopefully short-term, effect on those savings institutions relying on 
investment income generation for their operations, including pension funds, 
assurance and other investment vehicles, such as ourselves. 
 
Accordingly, we intend not to recommend the payment of a final dividend for the 
2019 financial year and we propose to review 2020 dividends as the year 
progresses. 
 
As previously announced in our 2019 interim statement and 2018 annual report, 
the continuation of our progressive dividend policy, which had been in place 
for over twenty years, would depend on a return in the share price of our major 
investment, Geron Corporation, to levels closer to those seen in 2018 to enable 
us to generate distributable income internally within our group.  To date this 
has not occurred and now, in addition, the generation of reliable dividend 
income from external sources has been placed in doubt for the foreseeable 
future for the reasons noted above. 
 
In 2019, we paid a half-year interim dividend on our ordinary shares of 2.70 
pence, representing a yield of approximately 5.6 percent on the ordinary share 
price at the time of announcement and of approximately 6.5 percent averaged 
over the year as a whole. 
 
It is our intention to resume our dividend payments as soon as possible, as and 
when circumstances permit, potentially through ad hoc interim payments not 
necessarily on our normal dividend timetable, and eventually to catch up when 
and if possible on witheld or reduced payments. 
 
End 
 
 
 
END 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 07, 2020 05:23 ET (09:23 GMT)

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