In QuotedData’s morning briefing 1 April 2020 –
It has now been confirmed that the UK’s largest banks are suspending dividend payments. Separate statements from Lloyds, RBS, Barclays, HSBC, Santander and Standard Chartered last night noted that they would not proceed with paying out dividends for 2019, nor engage in share buybacks.
We published an update from Polar Capital Global Financials yesterday, which you can access here. They said that the banking sector is significantly better capitalised than it was in the years leading to the global financial crisis.
Meanwhile, stocks ended the first quarter with the worst returns since 2008, with the S&P 500 going through its quickest fall into a bear market on record.
- Perpetual Income and Growth (PLI) said the following: “The board of PLI notes the announcement by Invesco that it is seeking to exit exposure from unquoted securities with a view to redeploying the proceeds into discounted publicly quoted UK equities. The impact on PLI’s NAV from Invesco’s decision to mark down the pricing of these securities by 60% to reflect current market conditions means that the unquoted investments will be less than 1% of the company’s net asset value.”
We also have stories BB Healthcare, which has announced some changes to its Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) agreement (no impact on strategy or the lead managers), and an update from Gore Street Energy Storage, who said the impact on the portfolio from covid-19 has been limited. It also reaffirmed its dividend target.