RIT Capital Partners plc RCP

Established in 1988, RIT Capital Partners is an investment trust, which seeks to achieve long-term capital growth by investing primarily in quoted securities.

Dividend Policy

Since the company became a listed investment trust in its present form in August 1988, its policy has been to deliver long-term capital growth and in this it has been successful - net assets have increased from £281 million to £1,920 million, a gain of over £1.6 billion. The company's main benchmark is the MSCI and an equivalent investment in this index would have shown gains of £580 million during this period. They have therefore outperformed their index by almost £1.1 billion. For an investor who has held the shares over this period, the share price has increased by approximately 15 times.

Additionally, dividends and buybacks of £254 million were returned to shareholders over this period. The greater part of the total gains have therefore been retained by the company so that it now enjoys a substantial permanent capital base. Shareholders may also be aware that, following changes in tax legislation, investment trust companies are now able to pay dividends from capital reserves. They decided it was timely to review our dividend policy and will be seeking shareholder approval to an appropriate change in our Articles to allow greater flexibility in paying such dividends. We will be recommending a dividend of 28 pence per share to be paid on 24 August 2012 to shareholders on the register at 15 June. This would bring their dividend yield more in line with their peer group. They expect to maintain or increase this level in the years ahead as long as this does not come into conflict with the company's primary objective of capital preservation and growth.