Saints marches well past benchmark

THE Scottish American Investment Trust produced a return almost double its benchmark last year as it rallied on the back of stabilising world markets.

The Baillie Gifford-run trust, known as Saints, produced a total net asset value return of 49.6 per cent, compared with 25.4 per cent for its benchmark (a split of the FTSE All-Share and the FTSE World excluding UK indices), results yesterday revealed. Its share price rose from 130.5p to 180.1p, the year-end results showed, while a final dividend of 2.3p took the total shareholder payout to 9.05p, up from 8.8p and the 22nd consecutive annual rise.

The 367.1 million trust, managed by Patrick Edwardson, attributed its strong performance largely to government and central bank support of financial markets.

He also highlighted the role of developing markets: "These countries have little of the public or private sector indebtedness which burdens the developed economies and they have been able to recover more strongly and more quickly from the economic seizure of a year ago."

The trust has reduced its UK exposure in recent years in favour of overseas stocks, most notably those in emerging markets. Almost 40 per cent of the trust – one of Scotland's oldest, dating back to 1873 – was invested in overseas equities at the end of 2009, compared with 28.9 per cent in UK equities.