Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, forecasts 7.25 per cent growth in the UK economy this year. So how should investors respond to the change for the good in the economy s fortunes?
Managers expect strong performance from Claverhouse’s British stocks
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Reserves that could be used to support the trust’s dividend during the pandemic were behind our decision a year ago to add JP Morgan Claverhouse to our Income Portfolio at the expense of Invesco Income Growth. Its annual report, published last month, gave us an update on the state of those reserves.
The trust said that, following payment of the fourth quarterly dividend, its reserves would amount to £15.8m or 27.1p per share. This compared with £19.6m or 34.4p a share in 2019.
The total dividend for 2020 was 29.5p, up from 29p, as we have reported previously. So the current reserves would be enough to pay 92pc of the next annual dividend if it was left unchanged.
Investors in the leading banks have endured a hair-raising year. At times, Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays and HSBC have seen their share prices dwindle to under half what they were 12 months ago. But are they now turning a corner?
Banks were this month given the green light to restart paying dividends – a huge relief to shareholders who rely on their holdings for an income. In March the industry regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority, had asked banks to freeze dividends to private investors and pension funds. Instead, banks were told to use the payments to build up a cash pile as a buffer against potential loan losses.