Last checked at 
(Alliance News) - BlackRock Income & Growth Investment Trust PLC on Monday reported an annual dip net assets, but upped its dividend.
In the year ended September 30, net assets were down 1.1% year-on-year to GBP46.2 million from GBP46.7 million.
Net asset value per share rose by 3.6%, however, to 201.30 pence from 194.26p. BlackRock Income & Growth had 23.0 million shares in issue at the year end, compared with 24.1 million last year.
Shares in the trust closed untraded at 205.00p each in London on Monday.
The company's net asset value per share returned 7.4% during the period, beating the benchmark FTSE All-Share Index which returned 6.8%.
The trust said: "The ongoing Brexit process continued to weigh heavily on UK market sentiment during the period and UK assets remained out of favour. Global markets saw a significant fall in the fourth quarter of 2018 as concern around the escalation of US/China trade tensions spiked, with each side imposing trade tariffs. However, markets rebounded during the first quarter of 2019, benefitting from a softening of at least some geopolitical tensions."
The company upped its full-year dividend by 4.3% year-on-year to 7.20p from 6.90p.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2019 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.