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Fidelity Special Values PLC on Wednesday said it ‘continued to perform well’ in its first half, and proclaimed confidence in the longer-term outlook despite ‘increased volatility’ and ‘increasing uncertainty’ across markets. The all-cap UK-focused investment firm’s net asset value per share was 451.83 pence as at February 28, up from 392.26p at August 31. For the six months ended February 28, Fidelity Special reported an NAV total return of plus 17.1%, compared with an 18.9% return from its benchmark, the FTSE All-Share Index. ‘Your Company has continued to perform well in the period under review...despite the fact that the performance of the UK equity market has continued to be driven principally by the largest companies,’ said Chair Claire Boyle, ‘with mid-sized and smaller companies, which make up the greater part of your company’s portfolio, lagging behind.’ She added that ‘in brief, the contributors to returns have included banks and defence stocks, merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, and not owning some highly valued larger companies such as Diageo and London Stock Exchange Group, which have performed poorly.’ Fidelity Special declared a 3.49p per share interim dividend, up 3.9% from its 3.36p payout the year before. ‘Fidelity Special Values has a strong and consistent dividend history, with the board having maintained or grown the dividend in each of the past 16 years,’ Boyle noted. She continued: ‘Recent developments in global trade policy and the war between the US, Israel and Iran have further elevated ongoing geopolitical tensions and contributed to increased volatility in commodity markets and supply chains, increasing uncertainty around the global economy, and the trajectory of inflation and interest rates on both sides of the Atlantic. ‘However, your company has weathered many storms across more than thirty years, and we remain confident that [Portfolio Managers Alex Wright and Jonathan Winton’s] patient and contrarian approach to identifying unloved and undervalued companies, and their rigorous bottom-up investment process, will continue to deliver attractive performance over the long-term notwithstanding any shorter-term pressures for shareholders.’ Fidelity Special Values shares were 0.7% higher at 426.00p each on Wednesday in London. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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