In QuotedData’s morning briefing 20 November 2020:
- Edinburgh Investment Trust (now managed by Majedie Asset Management) published its interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2020. During the period the trust has provided an NAV total return of 7.8% and a share price total return of 5.7%. In comparison, it says that the All-Share Index provided a total return of 7.0% during the period.
- Apax Global Alpha has announced that various funds that are managed by Apax Partners, including itself, have agreed to sell its stake in ECI Software Solutions, a provider of Enterprise Resource Planning solutions, to Leonard Green & Partners. As part of the transaction, Apax IX will reinvest some of the proceeds in ECI, retaining a minority stake in the Company. The transaction is expected to close in December 2020 subject to customary closing conditions.
- Bluefield Solar Income Fund (BSIF) has announced the results of the £45m placing that it announced on 16 November (Click here to read our story on this). In summary, the company is issuing 36.5m new ordinary shares, raising gross proceeds of approximately £45 million. The new shares represent approximately 9.99% of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company prior to it undertaking the placing. BSIF says that the placing was over-subscribed and it has been necessary to scale back applications. However, it took into account applications from existing shareholders with a view to giving these priority over other investors, where applicable. BSIF’s chairman, John Rennocks, has commented that the board is “delighted with the success of this significantly oversubscribed placing, the first fundraise undertaken by Bluefield Solar since we broadened the investment mandate earlier this year. It places the Company in a strong position to continue with its growth plans in 2021 and we thank our shareholders for their support.”
- Personal Assets (PAT) has released its interim results for the six months ended 31 October 2020. Over the half year, PAT’s NAV per share rose by 2.9% to £438.67, while its share price rose by £7.00 to £440.00 (this being a premium of 0.3% to the Company’s NAV at that date). PAT says that, in comparison, the All-Share Index fell by 3.4%. A third interim dividend of £1.40 per Ordinary share will be paid to shareholders on 8 January 2021 and a fourth interim dividend of £1.40 per Ordinary share is expected to be paid in April 2021, making a total for the year of £5.60 per Ordinary share.
- BBGI Global Infrastructure (BBGI) has announced the results of its placing that was announced on 17 November 2020. To summarise, BBGI has raised gross proceeds of £55.0 million through the issue of 32,544,379 new ordinary shares, at an issue price of 169p per share. BBGI says that the Issue was oversubscribed and so a scaling back exercise was undertaken.
- SEGRO has announced that it has received approval for the admission of its entire issued share capital to listing and trading on Euronext Paris, which will be its secondary listing. Admission is expected to take place on or about 24 November 2020, and the shares will be traded under the Euronext ticker symbol “SGRO” and ISIN code GB00B5ZN1N88. SEGRO says that the listing reflects the growth and importance of its Continental European investor base and operations (it manages a €6.2 billion portfolio in Continental Europe) and the secondary listing will ensure that it can maintain an optimum and efficient holding structure in respect of these assets following the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020.
- Glenstone Property has announced the results of its tender offer to acquire ordinary shares in Alternative Income REIT PLC (AIRE). Glenstone says that a total of 11,855,461 AIRE Shares, representing 14.73% of AIRE’s issued share capital, were tendered and, having waived the minimum condition, it will now acquire all of these. The tender price is 58p per share and all AIRE shareholders who have submitted valid tenders will receive this in addition to the interim dividend of 1.25 pence which has been declared by AIRE since the announcement of the Tender Offer.
- JPMorgan Global Core Real Assets (JARA) has published interim results for the six months ended 31 August 2020. JARA recorded a total return on net assets of -4.6% over the six months. It does not hedge currency exposures and the weakness of the US dollar relative to sterling accounted for nearly half of this fall. However, the total return for shareholders was +9.4% over the same period. The chairman says that this is perhaps counterintuitive, considering the fall in the value of JARA’s net assets, but is a reflection of the very significant premium at which JARA’s shares were trading at the end of August.
- Gore Street Energy Storage has announced the appointment of J.P. Morgan Securities plc (which conducts its UK investment banking activities as J.P. Morgan Cazenove) as joint broker, alongside Shore Capital, with immediate effect.
- Syncona has released its interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2020. In summary, Syncona provided a NAV total return of 9.6 per cent in the period. The life science portfolio was valued at £666.6 million at the period end (31 March 2020: £479.5 million), which is equivalent to a return of 24.8 per cent in the period. Performance was driven by the increase in the Autolus Therapeutics (Autolus) share price (Syncona valuation increase of £66.7 million) and the write-up of Freeline Therapeutics (Freeline) from its recent Series C financing and initial public offering (IPO) on NASDAQ (Syncona valuation increase of £57.9 million).
We also have annual results from Schroder Income Growth (a modest underperformance), interim results from Montanaro European Smaller Companies (a stellar recovery post COVID with very strong absolute and relative performance – an NAV total return of 49.9% over the six months, versus 33.4% for its benchmark, and a share price total return of 59.4% as the discount narrowed during the period), annual results from JPMorgan Elect, details of Unite Group’s acquisition of an 800-bed development site in Paddington (along with an update on check-ins, and guidance on earnings and dividends), and annual results from Urban&Civic (which includes comments on the recommended all cash offer from Wellcome Trust – something the board thinks is a persuasive outcome for all stakeholders).