QuotedData’s morning briefing 23 July 2021

In QuotedData’s morning briefing 23 July 2021:

• Alliance Trust (ATST) has released its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2021.
  • During the period, ATST provided NAV and share price total returns of 14.8% and 11.1% respectively. In comparison, ATST’s MSCI All Country World Index (MSCI ACWI) benchmark returned 11.1%. The lower share price total return reflects a widening of the discount from 3.5% at the start of the year to 6.7% at the end of June.
  • Between 1 April 2017, when Willis Towers Watson (WTW) was appointed Investment Manager, and 30 June 2021, ATST’s NAV total return and share price total returns were 58.4% and 56.6% respectively, against 57.2% for the benchmark.
  • A second quarterly dividend of 3.702p, an increase of 3% on last year, will be paid in September and ATST’s Board expects to extend the Company’s 54-year track record of increasing ordinary dividends. The Board says that it is reviewing the level of ATST’s dividend to assess if and how a more attractive and sustainable level of distributions may be provided to shareholders in the future.
  • ATST also says that reflecting its goal of transitioning the portfolio to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, it will be introducing exclusions on investing in stocks with significant exposure to thermal coal and tar sands.

• Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF) has announced that, following the sale of Anesco to Aksiom Services Group, it has given its consent to the sale of Anesco’s restricted shares. On 30 October 2020, Anesco Limited entered into a lock-up and orderly market deed with GSGF. As part of this, Anesco agreed that, subject to certain exceptions (including it obtaining the prior consent of GSF), it would not dispose of any of the 4,017,300 ordinary shares in GSF that it received as part of the consideration for the sale of some assets to GSF (these being the restricted shares) for 12 months from the date of the acquisition. The effect of GSF now providing this consent is to bring forward the end of the lock-in period, for the restricted shares, from 4 November 2021 to 22 July 2021. The restricted shares have now been sold (to meet continuing demand from investors) and Anesco no longer has an interest in GSF.

• Macau Property Opportunities (MPO) has provided an investor update for the first half of 2020. During the period, MPO’s adjusted NAV fell by 1.6%, while its share price fell by 2.5%. As at 30 June 2021, MPO was trading on a discount of 55.6%, with a market capitalisation of US$41.7m and a loan-to-value-ratio of 49.1%. The update says that Macau started 2021 with a sense of guarded optimism over a nascent recovery. Mainland Chinese tourists had been returning to the territory since September and gross gaming revenue was on the rise again. However, slow vaccine uptake in Macau and recent concerns over COVID-19 outbreaks in neighbouring Guangdong Province has moderated the optimism and weighed on near term investor sentiment. Although Macau’s residential property market improved in H1 2021, the luxury end of the residential sector continued to lag the market overall in both sales and leasing. During the period, MPO signed a preliminary sale and purchase agreement to sell the final standard unit at The Fountainside for HK$11.8 million (c.US$1.5 million), with expected completion by November.

• RM Secured Direct Lending has announced its name has been changed to RM Infrastructure Income PLC, with immediate effect (the ticker has been changed from RMDL to RMII). The Company says that, further to its announcement on 12 May 2021, in which it said that it intended to change its name to RM Social & Environmental Infrastructure Income Plc, it has since been made aware that the  proposed new name had become unavailable.

• 3i Infrastructure has announced that the strategic review of Oystercatcher’s European terminals in Amsterdam, Terneuzen, Ghent and Malta has reached an advanced stage and that it, Oiltanking GmbH and Evos through Evos Finance B.V. intend to enter into an agreement for the sale and purchase of Oystercatcher’s 45% stakes in the terminals, as well as the 55% stakes held by Oiltanking GmbH. Entering into a sale and purchase agreement is subject to the applicable Dutch and Belgian employee consultation procedures.

• Harworth Group has said it expects its EPRA net disposal value (NDV) to be materially ahead of analyst forecasts of 167p for the six month period to 30 June 2020. This is due to strong operational performance and the effect of the buoyant land market, particularly in the industrial and logistics sectors, on its portfolio valuation. The group has a logistics development pipeline totalling 26.2m sq ft, of which 9m sq ft has planning consent. Its residential pipeline comprises 30,655 housing plots, of which 9,855 are consented. Across its operational business, it has collected 97% of rents in the first half of the year, while vacancy reduced to 3.0% as at 30 June 2021 (Dec 2020: 4.5%).