Strategic Equity Capital (which we recently published a note on) has announced results for the year ended 30 June 2015. The Company’s Net Asset Value Total Return per share was 25.8% over the twelve months ended 30 June 2015, exceeding the comparable FTSE Smaller Companies ex Investment Companies Index by 17.4% over the same period. Shareholders did much better even than this however as the discount was eliminated. the total return to shareholders was 48.1% over the period. The fund has issued or reissued £24.9m worth of shares and has powers to issue a further 14.5m shares. The dividend is being maintained at 0.78p.
The manager’s report says that, despite the mixed investment environment for smaller companies, the portfolio’s
performance over the period was pleasingly strong, once again driven by stock specific factors. The Company benefitted from the successful bid for Allocate Software, a mid sized holding, a healthy 35% premium to the undisturbed share
price. This is the eighth technology related investee company to be successfully bid for since 2006. Six of these have been purchased by UK or US-based private equity investors.
Notably, only one small portfolio holding materially disappointed over the year, a victim of a combination of the plunging oil price and disruptive M&A amongst its key customers. The statement lists the top five contributors to performance (figures in brackets represent the contribution to the fund’s return) as 4imprint (+5.3%), e2v technologies (+5.0%), Wilmington Group (+2.9%), Allocate Software (+2.7%) and EMIS Group (+2.5%) while the poorest performer, Northbridge Industrial Services, cost the fund 1.1%.
SEC : Strategic Equity Capital reports on blockbuster year