Cautious stance hurts returns on Fidelity Euro Values

Fidelity European Values has attributed the company's underperformance to its defensive stance last year.

The £597m trust returned 11.3% for the year ending 31 December 2009, compared to 19.1% for the FTSE World Europe ex UK index. Run by Sudipto Banerji, the trust has opted to pay an interim, rather than final dividend of 22.5p per share, compared to last year’s final dividend of 23.26p. Departing chairman Robert Walter says the trust’s cautious approach hampered returns. “The major factor behind this weak relative performance was the portfolio’s commitment to stocks with strong balance sheets and resilient profits. “The best-performing stocks were, however, more volatile companies...