AVI Global Trust Release Half-Year Report

AVI GLOBAL TRUST PLC

(‘AGT’ or the ‘Company’)

LEI: 213800QUODCLWWRVI968

Announcement of unaudited results for the half-year ended 31 March 2025

OBJECTIVE

The investment objective of the Company is to achieve capital growth through a focused portfolio of investments, particularly in companies whose shares stand at a discount to estimated underlying net asset value.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

– Net asset value (‘NAV’) total return per share increased +1.0%

– Share price total return +0.8%

– Benchmark index^± increased on a total return basis +1.5%

– Interim dividend increased to 1.50p

PERFORMANCE SUMMARY	Six months to 31 March 2025	Six months to 31 March 2024
Net asset value per share (total return) 1	+1.0%	+13.9%
Share price total return	+0.8%	+16.0%
	31 March 2025	31 March 2024
Discount (difference between share price and net asset value)2	9.2%	9.4%
Earnings and Dividends
Investment income	£15.98m	£9.99m
Revenue earnings per share	2.75p	1.38p
Capital earnings per share	(1.78)p	30.28p
Total earnings per share	0.97p	31.66p
Ordinary dividends per share	1.50p	1.20p
Ongoing Charges Ratio (annualised)
Management, marketing and other expenses as a percentage of average shareholders’ funds	0.85%	0.88%
Period Highs/Lows	High	Low
Net asset value per share	267.26p	250.04p
Net asset value per share (debt at fair value)	270.37p	252.40p
Share price (mid market)	249.00p	227.00p

¹ As per guidelines issued by the Association of Investment Companies (‘AIC’), performance is calculated using net asset values per share inclusive of accrued income and debt marked to fair value.

² As per guidelines issued by the AIC, the discount is calculated using the net asset value per share inclusive of accrued income and with the debt marked to fair value.

^± MSCI All Country World Index, please refer to the Glossary in the Half-Year Report and Accounts for further information.

Buybacks

During the six months ended 31 March 2025 the Company purchased 12,700,000 Ordinary Shares for cancellation for an aggregate consideration of £30,390,000 adding +0.3% to AGT’s NAV.

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT

The NAV return for the first half of our accounting year was +1.0%, whilst the share price total return was 0.8%, both compared with +1.5% for our comparator benchmark. As ever, these statistics, based on snapshots of data as at the end of September and March, do not tell the whole story. From the end of September to mid-February the share price and NAV followed a generally upward trend with relatively low volatility, as markets were unusually calm. This was then undone by growing concerns over moves by the United States to become more protectionist and isolationist in its dealings with the rest of the world. It all came to a head just after the end of our reporting period when President Trump announced a sweeping range of tariffs on imports to the United States. There has since followed a period of continuing uncertainty and high volatility in share prices.

While markets have been heavily affected by geopolitics and the potential effect on economic growth, our investment managers adhere resolutely to their focus on investing in companies whose assets and future potential are undervalued by their share price. There has been no shortage of interesting situations in the portfolio over the last few months, as set out in their report.

Revenue and dividend

Revenue earnings for the period were 2.75 pence per share. The Board has elected to pay an interim dividend of 1.50 pence per share, which is an increase of 0.30 pence per share compared with last year. While it is too early to predict revenue earnings for the full accounting year, the Board intends to at least maintain the final dividend, absent any unforeseen events, so that the total dividend with respect to the current accounting year will be at least 4.05 pence per share.

The Board recognises that a dividend which is steady and able to rise over time is attractive to many shareholders and, while we do aim to grow the dividend over the long term, I will repeat my previous statement that the portfolio is managed primarily for capital growth.

Share price rating and marketing

AGT has a substantial marketing budget and the Board works closely with AVI as it seeks to generate demand for AGT shares. Each month AVI produces an informative factsheet which is available on our website and I encourage you to register to receive these when they are published. AVI is also active in the media – both traditional and increasingly social media – as we seek to promote our investment proposition to a growing investor base.

The investment trust industry came under a lot of pressure during the period under review, as many trusts experienced wide share price discounts to their underlying NAV, leaving them vulnerable to corporate action. We continue to use share buybacks when AGT’s share price discount is unnaturally wide and when the Board believes that buying back shares is in the best interests of shareholders. This is also an approach that our Investment Manager encourages for many of our investee companies. There are periods when, working closely with our brokers, we buy back shares on most working days. During the six months under review, 12.7 million shares were bought back, representing 2.9% of the shares in issue as at the start of the period. Share buybacks benefit shareholders by limiting the discount at which they could sell shares if they so wish. Buying back shares at a discount also produced an uplift in value to the benefit of continuing shareholders, of approximately 0.3%.

Annual General Meeting

All resolutions at the Company’s AGM on 19 December 2024 were passed by a large majority. I would like to thank shareholders for their continuing support. As usual, it was good to meet a number of shareholders in person at the meeting. We welcome the opportunity to engage with shareholders and if you have any questions or points that you would like to raise with the Board, please send an email to aviglobal_cosec@cm.mpms.mufg.com or write to: The Company Secretary, AVI Global Trust PLC, 19th Floor, 51 Lime Street, London, EC3M 7DQ.

Outlook

While predictions are often difficult to make, and equally often prove not to be very accurate, I wrote last November in our 2024 Annual Report “The level of geopolitical uncertainty could be exacerbated by the result of the US election”. That certainly proved to be accurate but, looking forward, market movements are anything but easy to predict. We experienced an extreme negative reaction to the initial announcement of widespread tariffs imposed by President Trump, followed by a recovery which may in large part have been due to the President stepping back from more extreme measures due to the market reaction. The President has modified or put most of the proposed tariffs on hold but much uncertainty remains.

Against this unusually high level of background noise, our investment managers continue to focus their resources on what they do best, seeking undervalued assets with the potential to unlock that value.