At gleans mlb playoffs the same mlb poker chips gathers time we took some money out of Low and Bonarafter they had a rights issue to pay down debt. There was a particularlydisappointing performance from Dawson Holdings which suffered an unexpectedloss of its newspaper and magazine distribution contracts to its competitors.On the plus side, Portmeirion looks to have made an excellent acquisition inbuying the intellectual property rights and trade names of Royal Worcester andSpode from receivers.As investors at the smaller end of the market we suffered disproportionally asrisk premiums rose and equities were sold off. Therally was led in the first instance by cyclicals and there was a definitivesize bias as the micro caps substantially outperformed their largercounterparts, a reaction to being the most oversold.Portfolio ReviewUntil the last couple of months the principle consideration of the last periodremained a focus on the levels of bank gearing required to remain within ourbanking covenants. It is important to stress that this'relief bounce' happened from very low levels of valuation but at least it wasthe first welcome sign of an increase in investors' appetite for risk.
The recurrent themes of the liquidity crisis and the poor macro outlookcontinued to drive sentiment but as time moved on it became increasinglyevident that the worst of these fears would not be realised major league playoffs . Companies wereable to roll over debt, albeit at a substantially higher cost than before, andthe equity market provided support by backing a wide range of rights issues.With the fears of a 'worst case scenario' of `Corporate UK' not being able tore-finance gradually easing, small companies staged a dramatic rally in thelatter part of March and throughout April alcs playoffs . The dividend cuts across the market have led to an unprecedentedshortage of income in the UK and we believe that our longstanding focus onincome from outside of the more traditional areas will serve us well asinvestors return to equities.Lord Lamont of LerwickChairman24 July 2009Investment Manager's Reportfor the year ended 30 April 2009After the dramatic sell off in September and October smaller companies ralliedtowards the end of the year only to hit new lows again towards the beginning ofMarch league playoffs . Webelieve this will be a slow process and that the economic recovery is stillsomeway off baseball playoffs tickets . In the last downturn bycontrast the Company was geared by zero dividend preference shares.OutlookWhilst the increase in share prices in the last few months has been welcome,for a sustained improvement we will need more evidence that the banking sectoris able to provide liquidity and that corporate earnings are improving. The sum of £195,000 was deducted from revenue reserves.The Company has revenue reserves, which after payment of the fourth interimdividend represent 115% of the current annual dividend or 8.40p per Ordinaryshare.Shareholders should be aware that recent market falls and the reduction in thelevel of bank gearing required in order to stay within our banking covenantswill continue to affect our capacity to pay dividends. This dividend bringsthe total payment for the year ended 30 April 2009 to 7.30p per Ordinary share.Given the harsh economic climate over the period the long-term aim of growingthe dividend above the rate of inflation has not been achieved.
The Board hasreviewed the position of the loan and continues to believe that it is inshareholders' interests that it should be retained.The Company's bank loan is currently covered by an interest rate swap of £5million fixed at 6.2475% expiring on 10 July 2012.DividendThe fourth interim dividend declared of 1.70p per Ordinary share was paid on 15July 2009 to shareholders on the register on 3 July 2009 american league playoffs . The Companyhas received £184,539 from its former investment manager, BFS Investments (inliquidation) nlcs playoffs . The Investment Manager has also made a claim to HM Revenue &Customs to recover VAT previously paid and a sum of £189,000 has beenrecognised in the financial statements to reflect the virtually certainrecoverable VAT from Chelverton.Bank FacilityThe Company's borrowing facility has been reduced over the period under reviewfrom £10 million to a £4 million fixed loan facility and remains compliant withall its required covenants 2008 world series . In the event of the covenants not being compliedwith, the loan would become repayable on demand.The Board intends to continue to monitor and if necessary restrict theborrowing arrangements with the bank, so as to limit the total amount ofborrowings, to below 30 per cent of total assets at the time of drawdown TheDirectors have full responsibility for gearing decisions mlb poker chips . As the outlook improves and equity prices rise we will beable to rebuild capital in the Company from a relatively oversold position andwe have seen the first tentative signs of this in the last six weeks of theCompany's year.VAT ReclaimsFollowing the European Court of Justice ruling in 2007 that management feespaid by investment trusts are no longer subject to VAT, the immediate effect isthat invoices from the Investment Manager no longer include VAT.
The gearing obviously had a substantialnegative effect on performance 2008 baseball playoffs . Although earnings estimates were downgraded forthe majority of our companies in the past year the negative share pricereaction was compounded by the affects of the lack of liquidity at the smallerend of the market alcs playoffs . The severity of the downturn combined with a shortageof liquidity and an increase in pension fund deficits have led to a substantialfall in dividend payments by `Corporate UK' league playoffs . In previous downturns our Companyhas been afforded a degree of protection by the income generated by ourinvestee companies but we have not been immune from the dividend cuts this timeas companies have sought to preserve cash.As the markets continued to fall our main focus was to pay down debt and toremain within our banking covenants . During this period the FTSEAll-Share Index decreased by 29.90%, the FTSE Small-Cap Index decreased by29.87%.Since listing, on 12 May 1999, the FTSE All-Share has fallen by 26.70% and thenet asset value per Ordinary share has declined by 18.90%.