First year results for LMS Capital with new investment manager – In August 2016, LMS Capital (LMS) appointed Gresham House Asset Management Limited as its investment manager to carry out the new investment policy and to manage the company’s assets on a discretionary basis. Please click here to see our report on the proposal at the time.
The company has reported its first full 12 month report for the year ending 31 December 2017 with Gresham House as the manager. The NAV of the company rose by 12.7% over the year. This can be compared with the FTSE All-Share Index, which rose by 9%. The share price, however, fell by 12.6%, on a total return basis. This was principally due to the strengthening of sterling to the US dollar.
As proposed in July 2017 and following a tender offer in August 2017, LMS returned capital to shareholders to the value of £11 million. This was completed ahead of expectation.
Highlights from the report
The take over of the asset management by Gresham House has gone well. The company reported the following highlights:
- Net gains on the investment portfolio were £9.9 million (2016: losses of £16.2 million)
- The profit for the year was £7.6 million (2016: loss of £20.8 million); and
- Realisations for the year totalled £21.7 million (2016: £10.6 million)
A key contributor to performance came from investments held within San Francisco Equity Partners and the company’s interest in Gresham House plc, offset by losses on IDE Group Holdings and Weatherford International.
LMS : First year results for LMS Capital with new investment manager