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Rights & Issues Investment Trust PLC on Friday said the UK government budget back in autumn was ‘relatively benign’ but did damage to confidence, which reflected in equity performance. The Essex, England-based investor in smaller UK companies said net asset value per share rose 8.8% to 2,543.4p as of December 31 from 2,337.1p a year prior. NAV return improved to 8.8% in 2024 from 2.4% in 2023, and outperformed its benchmark, the FTSE all-share index, which had a return of 5.5% in 2024, with the benchmark’s return up from 3.8% in 2023. The company said Renold PLC was one of the top contributors for its performance, for the second year running. The Manchester, England-based company which supplies industrial chains and related power-transmission products had reported a series of profit upgrades boosted by operational performance and attractive acquisitions. Further, Rights & Issues praised Eleco PLC as another strong performer. The London-based software provider focused on the construction and built environment sectors expects strong profit growth with Rights & Issues noting ‘considerable scope for further growth.’ On the other side, Videndum was a detractor. The London-based provider of hardware and software for broadcasters, film studios and other media content creators detracted performance as its end markets took longer to recover than expected following strikes in Hollywood and a customer downturn. Spirax Group PLC was another detractor. Rights & Issues said: ‘Weakness in end markets drove a series of prot downgrades and undermined condence, resulting in a de-rating of the shares. We believe that recovery may now take longer than the market expects and have therefore sold the position completely.’ Cheltenham, Gloucestershire-based Spirax, formerly known as Spirax-Sarco Engineering, has three thermal energy and fluid technology businesses - Steam Thermal Solutions, Electric Thermal Solutions, and Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions. Meanwhile, commenting on current economic trends, Rights & Issues said: ‘As we have discussed before, higher interest rates generally have the effect of suppressing economic activity, which in turn impacts the value of equities. At the same time, the newly elected Labour government spent much of the second half of the year strenuously attempting to lower expectations, with much talk of scal ’black holes’ and ’painful decisions’. ‘In the event, the autumn budget was relatively benign, with the exception of an unwelcome increase in employer national insurance contributions. The damage to condence, however, appeared to have been done, again reected in equity performance,’ the company continued. It added that since the election of Donald Trump as US president, with his Republican Party gaining full control of Congress, the US equity market ‘seems to have taken this all in its stride,’ while elsewhere investors are taking a more cautious approach. Rights & Issues proposed a final dividend of 32.00p per share, up 2.4% from 31.25p a year ago. This would bring the total payout for 2024 to 44.00p, up 2.3% from 43.00p in 2023. Rights & Issues shares fell 1.4% to 2,060.60 pence each on Friday morning in London. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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