In QuotedData’s morning briefing 26 April 2021 –
- International Biotechnology Trust’s (IBT’s) interim results to 28 February 2021 saw the NAV per share return 6.9%. On the management side, Carl Harald Janson decided to step back from his role as lead manager (he will remain involved with IBT as a senior advisor) and Kate Bingham was welcomed back as manager of IBT’s unquoted portfolio after she spent six months as chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce. In their outlook, IBT’s manager, SV Health Managers, noted: “In our view, there are two main themes that will drive Company and sector performance, namely M&A activity and company valuations. In line with the company’s risk mitigation strategy, the Fund Manager takes a cautious approach to investing in early-stage companies without clinical data where valuations have become frothy. In contrast, later stage and sales growth companies, including large-cap companies (i.e. companies whose valuation is in excess of $10bn), are broadly considered undervalued and make them prime targets for M&A activity. Our outlook for the biotech sector remains positive. Innovation remains strong, with a record number of drugs in development in 2020 – a trend which is expected to continue throughout 2021. With an ageing global population, the fundamentals of supply and demand within the biotechnology sector remain intact.“
- From last Friday, we also had interim results (to 28 February 2021) from Henderson International Income (HINT). The NAV total return came to 8.4% (debt at fair value). Chairman, Simon Jeffreys, noted that “whilst the majority of companies in the portfolio maintained their dividends last year, some sectors and companies suspended them until the outlook was clearer, but encouragingly a number of these have reinstated their dividends this year.”
We also have annual results from Schroder UK Public Private and Fair Oaks Income.