LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT

JPMORGAN CLAVERHOUSE INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

UNAUDITED HALF YEAR RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED
30th JUNE 2021

Legal Entity Identifier: 549300NFZYYFSCD52W53

Information disclosed in accordance with the DTR 4.2.2

The Directors of JPMorgan Claverhouse Investment Trust plc announce the Company's results for the half year ended 30th June 2021.

Chairman's Statement

Performance

I am pleased to present the Company's interim report for the six months ended 30th June 2021. While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect our lives and working habits, the UK economy and stockmarket have rebounded well in 2021 from the falls experienced in 2020. As anticipated by the Investment Managers, the UK stockmarket has performed well since the beginning of the year and your Company has recovered much of the share price fall it experienced in 2020.

The Company outperformed its benchmark index over the first six months of the financial year. The total return on net assets was +14.0%, an outperformance of 2.9% compared to the FTSE All-Share Index (total return). The share price also increased, from 649.0p as at 31st December 2020 to 732.0p as at 30th June 2021. The Investment Managers' report on pages 9 to 12 reviews the market and provides more detail on performance.

Revenue and Dividends

Revenue per share for the six months to 30th June 2021 was 12.82p, compared with 10.19p earned in the same period in 2020. As shown in the Statement of Comprehensive Income dividend income is 21.9% higher than in the six months of the corresponding year. A first quarterly dividend of 7.00p per share (2020: 6.50p) was paid on 4th June 2021. It remains the Board's intention that the first three quarterly dividends should be of an equal amount and has therefore declared a second quarterly dividend of 7.00p per share (2020: 6.50p) to be paid on 6th September 2021 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 13th August 2021. The Board's dividend policy remains to seek to increase the total dividend each year and, taking a run of years together, to increase dividends at a rate close to or above the rate of inflation. The Company continues to benefit from a relatively high level of revenue reserves, which have been built up over a number of years, and the ability to utilise these, if necessary, to support the dividend. Whilst portfolio companies are beginning to increase their dividends from the cuts and suspensions seen in 2020, it is likely that, as with last year, the Company's full dividend for 2021 will require some utilisation of the revenue reserves. The Board currently intends to declare an increased dividend for 2021, compared with that for 2020.

Discount, Share Issues/Repurchases

The discount at which the Company's share price traded relative to net asset value has fluctuated during the period but has generally narrowed and at times the shares have traded at a premium. During the period 362,000 shares were repurchased into Treasury but the Company has also been able to re-sell 513,290 shares from Treasury and to issue 360,000 new shares, raising over £6.3 million for investment. As at 30th June 2021 the Company's discount (to its cum-income, debt at fair value, NAV) was 0.5%.

Gearing

The Company's gearing policy is to operate within a range of 5% net cash and 20% geared and the Investment Managers have discretion to vary the gearing level between 5% net cash and 17.5% geared. The Company has a long-term £30million 3.22% private placement loan and also has a revolving credit facility of £70 million of which £60 million was drawn as at 30th June 2021. Taking into account borrowings, net of cash balances held, the Company started the period approximately 13.8% geared. At the end of the period the Company was approximately 9.8% net geared (including the exposure to futures).

Investment Risk

The Company announced a change to its risk management limits on 11th June 2021. The Board had previously agreed certain guidelines with the Investment Managers to seek to manage risk relative to the Company's benchmark index by limiting the active portfolio exposure to individual sectors and stocks. Over time, the current risk limits had increasingly impacted the Investment Managers' ability to invest in their best ideas. This became particularly acute following the changes to the industry classification benchmark in March 2021 when stocks that were previously spread across a number of sectors moved into a new sector. As a result, whilst the portfolio positioning had not changed, the positions were close to breaching sector limits.

Following a review, the Board concluded that the Investment Managers' active approach is a key feature of the Company, and that risk can be managed effectively at a portfolio level. It therefore agreed to amend certain of the risk limits, bringing the Company in line with relevant peers:

•   Stock limits for overweight positions will remain unchanged. However, the Investment Managers are now permitted to operate a 'do not like do not hold' approach for underweight positions (previously limited to -3%). The risk implications of any large underweight will always be considered within the context of the broader portfolio; and

•   Sector exposures will in future deviate from any index weighting by a maximum of 10% (previously limited to +/-5%).

Board Succession

I have been a Director of the Company since 2013 and have served as Chairman since 2015. Having been on the Board for almost nine years and in accordance with corporate governance best practice, I have indicated to the Board my intention to retire from the Board at the conclusion of the 2022 AGM. The Board has agreed that David Fletcher will succeed me as Chairman and the Board will in due course engage a search consultancy firm to recruit a suitably qualified additional Director.

Outlook

With the main Covid lockdown restrictions in the UK having now been lifted and with an increase in economic activity, it is tempting to believe that stockmarket returns in the second half of 2021 will be as good if not better than in the first half (although much of the recovery started in the second half of 2020). However, there are also grounds for caution.

The Covid virus has not been defeated and it is difficult to know what further waves of the pandemic will affect us in the coming months. There are signs of inflation growing, the furlough scheme which has supported many UK employees is coming to an end, and the strains on Government finances look considerable for some years to come.

It is therefore difficult to be certain of the outlook for the coming months. There remain good opportunities in the UK market and I would expect that the Investment Managers will continue to run a balanced portfolio which, in accordance with the Company's investment objective, is capable of outperforming the benchmark index in the medium term and of maintaining the Company's long record of dividend growth.

Andrew Sutch

Chairman

6th August 2021

INVESTMENT MANAGERS' REPORT

Investment Approach

We aim to construct a diversified portfolio of our best ideas, comprising both quality growth and value stocks. For the patient investor, such an approach will, we believe, produce outperformance of the index in a steady, risk-controlled manner irrespective of market conditions. We also strive to maintain Claverhouse's enviable dividend record by biasing the portfolio towards stocks with growing dividends.

Market Review

Equities globally were strong over the period, as investors continued to take heart from a confluence of good news: impressive vaccine roll-outs, falling infection rates and huge fiscal and monetary stimulus packages.

The UK and US both made significant strides in rolling out their vaccination programmes. Infection rates in both countries fell accordingly. Whilst Europe's roll out initially disappointed, by the end of the period it had improved considerably.

President Biden took office at the start of the year and made kick-starting the economy his top priority. This, together with the Federal Reserve chairman, Jay Powell making it clear that he was prepared to take some risk with inflation, gave equities another fillip.

Many UK companies reported supply shortages, particularly of skilled labour, together with some degree of disruption at the ports - probably due to increased Brexit related paperwork and continuing Covid-related complications.

The rally in the UK market was underpinned by a number of bids, often in cash from Private Equity groups. Sectors geared into the global economic recovery (banks, oil and the mining sector) performed well. A return to dividend payments by many companies reflected the air of new-found confidence. By the end of June the total return on the FTSE All-Share index was 11.1% since the start of the year.

Portfolio review

Your portfolio performed well over the period, benefitting from a significant exposure to stocks geared into the nascent economic upturn. Our holdings in banks, miners and oil stocks all performed well. Domestic small cap stocks were also beneficiaries of increased investor confidence, which was reflected in the excellent performance of the JPMorgan Smaller Companies Investment Trust. A consistent double digit level of gearing into the rising markets was also beneficial.

Many of the fund's holdings performed well over the period with the stand out performers being Ashtead, Future and Softcat.

Ashtead is a construction and specialty equipment rental company and is one of our largest holdings. It has operations in the UK and North America. The rental opportunity in the US is particularly exciting as the US rental market is a highly fragmented market and the biggest operators, like Ashtead, continue to aggressively take market share. Their recent strategy day set out the considerable growth opportunity that is ahead of them and the strong macro environment should further support the business.

Future is a consolidator of niche media brands. The market was initially sceptical of Future's acquisition of GoCo Group but having discussed it with management we could see the merits of the deal and stuck with our holding. Subsequently, they reported very strong figures and as a result, the shares have gained more than 80% year to date.

The reseller of software and hardware, Softcat, has a phenomenal track record and is another of our top holdings. They generate very high returns on invested capital, consistently convert all of their earnings into cash and earnings have grown at over 20% pa over the last 10 years. Recent trading has been remarkably resilient and we remain convinced that management can continue to grow and generate value for shareholders.

Claverhouse's shareholders continue to benefit from our close relationship with the JPM Small Cap team as a number of their best ideas move up the market cap spectrum and onto our radar. Future and Games Workshop have been notable historical examples of this. More recently, we have bought into Impax Asset Management which they have been monitoring for some time. Impax is a boutique investment manager with 100% of their funds being focused on ESG. They have attracted huge inflows over the last year and we expect this momentum to continue as their long track record in the ESG space gives them a strong competitive advantage.

Our biggest detractor to performance was the global mining and commodities marketing business, Glencore which we do not hold. Management have taken steps to improve Glencore's ESG credentials; however, given their very poor track record in this space we need to see further evidence of delivering on these targets. We have benefited from the global commodities rally through our holdings in other miners such as Rio Tinto and Evraz.

The vagaries of the market continue to present opportunities for active managers and as opportunities have arisen we have added several new holdings. There is a careful balance to be struck between leaning into the cyclical recovery and maintaining some defensive exposure. Greggs, National Express and WPP are examples of new additions we think should emerge from the pandemic with decent tailwinds and we expect the upgrades to continue. We sold out of Melrose, Greencore and Compass Group as we felt the earnings outlook was turning less positive due to continued uncertainty in their end markets. Experian, Watches of Switzerland and Entain are names where we expect structural growth into the foreseeable future which the market is currently underappreciating. Income is still a key focus and we added to several high yielding names such as Phoenix Group, B&M and M&G at attractive levels.

We continue to engage with a number of our portfolio holdings on ESG matters. We believe that active ownership and engagement drives good outcomes for stakeholders. For example, we have engaged with Rio Tinto on the changes they are making following the destruction of the Juukan Gorge site. Another area of focus has been the housebuilders, Countryside Properties and Persimmon, on issues such as pay, cladding and build quality.

The total return of +14.0% on the net assets of your company (with debt at par), out-performed the benchmark return of +11.1%.

Performance Review: 6 months to 30th June 2021 - Stock Attribution

Top Over and Under-weight positions vs FTSE All-Share Index

Source: JPMAM, as at 30th June 2021.

Market Outlook

Currently, it is even more difficult than usual to make high conviction economic or market forecasts. Despite the continuing roll out of vaccinations across most developed countries, the rapid spread of the Delta coronavirus variant is causing us to worry that the more encouraging recent economic developments risk being undermined by rising infection levels and the reintroduction of travel and social restrictions.

The recent lifting of most lockdown measures across Europe has led to a surge in business activity, retail spending and household confidence. However, these promising trends risk being undermined by infection rates which are now up to the highest level for many months. It is noteworthy that the European Commission's recent forecast that the EU economy would regain its pre-pandemic level of output by the end of this year was predicated on economies continuing to open up. Whilst the UK government has taken the calculated gamble to open England up on July 19th, by contrast, the recent pick up in infection rates in Japan has led to a ban on all spectators at the Olympics.

Markets don't know quite what to make of all this. The parabolic rise in freight charges and commodity prices, together with a palpable tightening in the labour market, would suggest inflationary pressures are building, with many value stocks rallying strongly on the back of this. However, long bond yields are still historically very low and have actually fallen a little in recent weeks. This suggests that bond vigilantes remain more concerned about sluggish economic growth than any sustained medium term inflation becoming baked into the system. The Fed chairman's recent comment that he is prepared to let the US economy 'run hot' suggests he feels similarly.

Whilst we continue to see good medium term value in UK equities - and have strong conviction on a number of individual names - we think it prudent to keep gearing to a slightly lower level than usual and not tilt the portfolio too much towards either growth or value. Our position sizes remain relatively constrained, too.

Things are likely to become much clearer in the upcoming (traditionally more volatile) autumn season. Our biggest fear is that growth slows but is accompanied by persistently high levels of cost-push inflation. Such 'stagflation' would be bad for practically all asset classes.

So, having made really good absolute and relative money in the past 12 months, we think it prudent now to sail a bit closer to the shore. There may be choppier waters ahead.

At the time of writing, the Company is 10.5% net geared (including the exposure to futures).

William Meadon

Callum Abbot

Investment Managers

6th August 2021

Interim Management Report

The Company is required to make the following disclosures in its half year report.

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

The principal risks and uncertainties faced by the Company fall into the following broad categories: cybercrime; external factors (including Covid--19 and Brexit); share price discount; political; investment and strategy; market; operational; loss of investment team; legal and regulatory/corporate governance; and financial. The impact of climate change, including but not limited to natural disasters, social dislocation and conflict has been identified as an emerging risk. Information on each of these areas is given in the Strategic Report within the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31st December 2020.

Related Parties Transactions

During the first six months of the current financial year, no transactions with related parties have taken place which have materially affected the financial position or the performance of the Company.

Going Concern

The Directors believe, having considered the Company's investment objectives, risk management policies, capital management policies and procedures, nature of the portfolio and expenditure projections, and the actual and potential economic and operational impact of Covid-19, that the Company has adequate resources, an appropriate financial structure and suitable management arrangements in place to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and, more specifically, that there are no material uncertainties pertaining to the Company that would prevent its ability to continue in such operational existence for at least 12 months from the date of the approval of this half yearly financial report. In reaching that view, the Directors have considered the impact of the current Covid-19 pandemic on the Company's financial and operational position. For these reasons, they consider that there is sufficient evidence to continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the accounts.

Directors' Responsibilities

The Board of Directors confirms that, to the best of its knowledge:

(i)    the condensed set of financial statements contained within the half year financial report has been prepared in accordance with FRS 104 'Interim Financial Reporting' and gives a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Company, and of the assets, liabilities, financial position and net return of the Company as at 30th June 2021 as required by the UK Listing Authority Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules 4.2.4R; and

(ii)   the interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by 4.2.7R and 4.2.8R of the UK Listing Authority Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

In order to provide these confirmations, and in preparing these financial statements, the Directors are required to:

•      select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

•      make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

•      state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

•      prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Company will continue in business;

and the Directors confirm that they have done so.

For and on behalf of the Board

Andrew Sutch
Chairman

6th August 2021

statement of comprehensive income

for the six months ended 30th June 2021

All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing operations.

The 'Total' column of this statement is the profit and loss account of the Company and the 'Revenue' and 'Capital' columns represent supplementary information prepared under guidance issued by the Association of Investment Companies.

The net return/(loss) after taxation represents the profit/(loss) for the period/year and also the total comprehensive income for the period/year.

statement of changes in equity

for the six months ended 30th June 2021

¹ This reserve forms the distributable reserve of the Company and may be used to fund distributions to investors.

statement of financial position

at 30th June 2021

statement of cash flows

for the six months ended 30th June 2021

Notes to the financial statements

for the six months ended 30th June 2021

1.     Financial statements

The information contained within the financial statements in this half year report has not been audited or reviewed by the Company's auditors.

The figures and financial information for the year ended 31st December 2020 are extracted from the latest published financial statements of the Company and do not constitute statutory accounts for that year. Those financial statements have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies including the report of the auditors which was unqualified and did not contain a statement under either section 498(2) or 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006.

2.     Accounting policies

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' of the United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice ('UK GAAP') and with the Statement of Recommended Practice 'Financial Statements of Investment Trust Companies and Venture Capital Trusts' (the 'SORP') issued by the Association of Investment Companies in October 2019.

FRS 104, 'Interim Financial Reporting', issued by the Financial Reporting Council ('FRC') in March 2015 has been applied in preparing this condensed set of financial statements for the six months ended 30th June 2021.

All of the Company's operations are of a continuing nature.

The accounting policies applied to this condensed set of financial statements are consistent with those applied in the financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2020.

3.     Return/(loss) per share

4.     Dividends paid

All dividends paid in the period/year have been funded from the revenue reserve.

A second quarterly dividend of 7.00p (2020: 6.50p) per share, amounting to £4,127,000 (2020: £3,809,000) has been declared payable in respect of the year ending 31st December 2021. It will be paid on 6th September 2021 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 13th August 2021.

5.     Net asset value per share

¹     Excluding nil (30th June 2020: nil; 31st December 2020: 151,290) shares held in Treasury.

JPMORGAN FUNDS LIMITED

6^th August 2021

For further information, please contact:

Nira Mistry

For and on behalf of

JPMorgan Funds Limited

020 7742 4000

Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

ENDS

A copy of the half year will be submitted to the FCA's National Storage Mechanism and will be available for inspection at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism

The half year will also shortly be available on the Company's website at www.jpmclaverhouse.co.uk where up to date information on the Company, including daily NAV and share prices, factsheets and portfolio information can also be found.