The group said while its NAV fell 2,155 pence to 1,919p over the six months to end-September 2008, it outperformed the FTSE over the same period by 4.1 percentage points.
Since September 30, the market has continued to fall by a further 12.1 percent to October 31 with our own net assets per share declining by 15.2 percent to 1,627 pence, the company said.
However, its strong balance sheet allows the investment group to raise the interim dividend 4 percent to 10.3 pence per share.