Mid Wynd International Investment Trust PLC on Wednesday said its net asset value and returns increased in its latest year, and reassured shareholders that it is well-placed to weather short-term market volatility.

The Edinburgh-based investor in international stocks, which is managed by London-based Artemis Fund Managers Ltd, said its NAV per share at June 30 was 719.84 pence, up from 692.01p at the same time a year prior.

Mid Wynd shares were 0.6% lower at 705.98p on Friday morning.

Mid Wynd’s NAV total return for the year ended June 30 was positive 5.6%, compared with the negative 7.5% delivered the year before. However the trust’s comparator index, the MSCI All Country World Index, delivered a positive 11.3% return after a negative 4.3% one last year.

Chair Russell Napier said the past year has ‘seen a rise in global equity markets,’ which are ‘seeking to price in what the long-term consequences of [major structural] changes are for corporate earnings and equity valuations.’ Markets are, he said, particularly excited by the prospects of technology stocks and artificial intelligence.

‘Our company has invested in the technology sector and benefited from some of this excitement but not to the extent that the comparator index has benefited,’ Napier commented. ‘Accurately reflecting all these major structural changes in the price of equities is something that is likely to be achieved by financial markets only over many years.

‘The role of our managers is to see through the short-term volatility associated with such changes and invest to benefit from the developing longer-term trends.’

Mid Wynd declared a final dividend of 3.95 pence per share, up from 3.70p last year. It also declared a special dividend of 1.70p, down from 3.00p. These brought total dividends for the year to 10.55p per share, up from 6.80p.

Going forward, Napier warned that increasingly, ‘governments are intervening to create outcomes that they believe should not be left to market forces.’ This ‘rarely results in higher returns on capital...A well-chosen portfolio of equities may be one of the few places for investors to hide in such a world,’ he added.

Napier continued: ‘History...suggests that well managed companies, producing high returns on capital and bought at good valuations will provide positive real total returns.

‘Our managers have the freedom to seek out those companies wherever they may be in the world and we expect this ability to find those companies to benefit our investors.’

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