Hello there and welcome to this introduction to the annual results for the Bankers Investment Trust.
The highlight of the year was the share price was up 22.8% ahead of the benchmark up 21.0%. The net asset value was up 18.1% so a little behind the benchmark. Really all that return that we lost was in November of 2024, really post the US election when we held relatively few of the sort of stocks that were very pro-Republican and Trump's policies. But since the beginning of 2025, the net asset value has broadly been in line with the benchmark. The other highlight is the dividend was up again for the 59th consecutive year to paying out 2.744 pence for the year.
In terms of drivers through the year, really technology was the number one sector for us and the market, dominated again by artificial intelligence. So both sort of manufacturers of semiconductors, data centres and software in this space all performed very well through the year. We added to many of these positions, particularly Alphabet through the year and also raised the exposure to technology as the year developed. Other areas that performed particularly well were banks, which really performed in most markets around the world and particularly retail orientated banks as interest rates have arisen and allowed better profitability.
In terms of detractors from a sector point of view, healthcare was probably the largest one, really struggling, I suppose, post-Covid to really sort out pricing and also the cost of provision. And we're also perceived, I think, by the market as a defensive sector and therefore as capitals flow to more growth opportunities, it's come out of healthcare. We also saw poor performance from a number of the larger consumer stocks and brands. Really, I think, again, taking too much price in the last two or three years and struggling therefore with volumes in the current marketplace.
From a stock point of view, I think some of the, again, the biggest drivers were those technology names. For us, it was Broadcom, was the biggest contributor, which makes AI chips that help inferencing AI, followed by Alphabet, where I said earlier we've added to that position and really I think some of the clarity over their AI positioning and some of the legal cases surrounding them has lifted over the year. And then finally, Amphenol, which again is involved in the semiconductor manufacturing.
Other regions you'll see also contributed meaningfully through the year in terms of the UK and Europe, NatWest, the bank, was our largest, our best performer rather in the region. Unicredit, again, the Italian bank, the best performing in Europe. Japan, it's been a bit more mixed, but actually the best performer was Sony in entertainment and then also Shimizu, which is a contracting house builder. So again, different drivers in that area. In Asia, the biggest contributor was SK Hynex, the memory manufacturer.
In terms of stock detractors, really, again, it was around the government positioning, I think, in a lot of things. So particularly UnitedHealth in America struggled with pricing of health care and also worries about drug pricing. And that was one of our largest underperformers through the year. We did exit that position in the calendar year. Nike was another one, again, where they've maybe taken too much price and struggling with inventories. Again, we exited that position. Booz Allen, which is a U.S. contractor for government services, again, got hit as the U.S. looked for better value and to reduce spending. So a lot of the largest detractors were actually U.S. stocks.
In terms of portfolio changes, I think the biggest for us was to increase the U.S. exposure from 50% to 65% through the year. We're still very positive on the U.S. despite, obviously, worries around valuations and some of Trump's tariff policies. So I think the worst is probably out there now. And actually, we should see rolling back of some of those tariffs. We still see the U.S. market actually as a very interesting and profitable place to be invested. And so increasing that U.S. exposure, I think, will lead to good returns in the future. We also used gearing to increase that position. So we increased gearing from 1.5% to 5.6%. And we also took some capital out of Japan that performed quite well and Europe, which again had a very strong start to our financial year.
In terms of stocks, we've added marginally to some of the financials. So one of our biggest increases or new positions, rather, was J.P. Morgan, the U.S. bank. Again, very clear the banks are proving to be finding better lending opportunities, so better growth. Deregulation should improve profitability. And actually, margins are increasing as interest rates have generally risen over the last two or three years. We also increased Alphabet, where again some of the uncertainty over that stock has lifted, particularly in terms of court cases, but really they are leading to some very dominant positions in AI, search, and also quantum computing, which is very exciting for the future.
In terms of some of the positions we exited, really mainly in the healthcare area. So big reduction in our Novo Nordisk position, which is the Danish manufacturer of obesity drugs. Again, market share issues there troubling them and pricing. We also exited AbbVie, a U.S. pharmaceutical company, and UnitedHealth, a provider of healthcare provision in the U.S. market. All these areas really seeing lower profitability and also the market derating those shares. It's difficult to see a sharp recovery coming through in those positions.
In terms of our outlook for 2026, we are actually quite positive on markets, despite a second strong year in 2025 for share prices. I think some of the key drivers will be the lifting of uncertainty. So 2025 did see a lot of corporates telling us that we are struggling a little bit with the certainty around tariffs, around economic growth. And I think some of those are going to lift in 2026 and allow companies to invest more. There are also tax benefits for putting more investment in, particularly in the U.S. market. We should see plans announced to actually follow through now with real capital being spent and orders and inventories increasing.
We also see interest rates continuing to fall. Rates got cut generally, particularly in the U.S. in the second half of last year and Europe in the first half and latter period. And those benefits of lower interest rates should feed through this year. And we should see, therefore, bank lending increase and a better market, obviously, therefore, for some of the financial names. So I think generally a positive backdrop. We also see the artificial intelligence story continuing to run. The huge investment that has been announced and being invested will continue to be invested very strongly in 2026. I think the questions over the value and return of those investments are really out into 2027-28.
So I still see a very positive backdrop of announcements of new products, announcements of new data centers, new capacity really driving that market and therefore inventories improving and orders upticking as well. However, we do see a broadening the market. We're already seeing this in the second half of 2025 coming through. So more sectors are benefiting as economic activity should be beginning to pick up. Interest rates are reducing. We should see, therefore, more sectors contributing to returns than the rather narrow focus that we had in 2025. And that should be good for our stock picking sort of style.
Three biggest exposures really continue to be technology, financials and industrials. And those all speak to what I've just said in terms of a positive outlook, both in AI spending, interest rates falling and continuing to come lower. And finally, that reindustrialization and investment spending coming through for industrials.
