Jpmorgan Us Smaller Co. Inv Tst PLC (JUSC)

(Alliance News) - JPMorgan US Smaller Cos Investment Trust PLC on Friday said it expects to benefit from strong investment returns over time, as it underperformed against its benchmark in 2024.

The investment trust reported a net asset value total return for 2024 of 11.3%, falling short of a 13.3% return on its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index. For 2023, JPMorgan US Smaller had reported a NAV total return of 4.6% compared to 10.1% for its benchmark.

Further, the trust delivered an 18.7% total return to shareholders during the year.

Net asset value per share as at December 31 grew 10% to 484.6p from 438.6p a year prior.

The company said that its exposure to DT Midstream proved beneficial. The company provides natural gas transportation and storage services.

JUSC said within technology, its lack of exposure to Super Micro Computer was the largest detractor. "The stock performed well in 2024. Demand for AI servers and liquid cooling solutions was high, generating strong revenue growth and facilitating significant market share gains. However, we have avoided this name due to the company's failure to meet our quality threshold, as we have concerns about the competition environment, cash flow challenges, and regulatory risks," JUSC said.

Its pretax net return more than doubled to GBP28.7 million from GBP12.4 million.

The trust declared a dividend of 3.1 pence per share, upped 3.3% from 3.0p the year before.

JUSC Portfolio Managers Jon Brachle and Dan Percella said: "We intend to maintain our search for innovative, high-quality, smaller cap companies with attractive investment cases, and we will continue to use any bouts of market volatility to act on compelling stock selection opportunities, with a view to building on the company's long-term track record of strong capital growth and outperformance."

JUSC Chair Dominic Neary said: "We are confident that the investment team continues to focus their investment decisions on valuation-conscious, all-weather stocks that will be robust in the face of political and economic developments.

"With the relative valuation of small cap investments so attractive, and the US small cap bias towards the home market, we believe that as the domestic-growth oriented policies are implemented those that 'Invest in the Heart of America' through your company will benefit from strong investment returns over time."

JPMorgan US Smaller shares were flat at 408.00 each on Friday afternoon in London.

By Tom Budszus, Alliance News slot editor

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