In QuotedData’s morning briefing 28 September 2021:
- Over the six months ended 31 July 2021, North American Income Trust (NAIT) beat its benchmark by 2.2%, producing a return on NAV of 19.8% against 17.6% for the Russell 1000 Index. The statement says that “This was mainly attributable to the positioning in the technology sector, as well as stock selection in communication services and consumer staples. Conversely, an underweight allocation to the healthcare sector and stock selection in energy and materials held back performance“. The discount widened a little during the period but has narrowed since. The balance of dividends paid through the year is being adjusted. Having paid 1.9p for each of the first two quarters, the third quarterly dividend is 2.5p. While the revenue earned was down on last year, dividends are recovering.
- Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) is buying Andershaw wind farm from Statkraft UK for £121m. Andershaw is a 35MW wind farm located 2 miles south of Douglas in South Lanarkshire and comprises 11 Vestas V117 3.3MW turbines. The wind farm was commissioned in February 2017, has a load factor of 34.8% and benefits from 0.9 ROCs per MWh. The wind farm has entered into a power purchase agreement with Statkraft until 2037 who will also provide management services to the wind farm. The deal will be funded from debt – taking total borrowings over £1bn (£1,050m), which is equivalent to gearing of about 43%. This transaction grows the portfolio to 39 wind farms with a generating capacity of 1,244MW.
- Asset Value Investors, the investment manager of AVI Japan Opportunity Trust (AJOT), has bought 100,000 shares in the trust as it meets its commitment to invest at least 25% of its investment management fee into AJOT shares. This purchase takes AVI’s total current holding to 875,000 shares.
- Alongside the German elections, voters in Berlin voted in favour of the referendum to expropriate 240,000 flats from private landlords that we wrote about in August. The measure was backed by 56.4% of those voting. Ahead of the vote, the Berlin city government bought 14,750 apartments from Vonovia and Deutsche Wohnen for €2.46bn. The vote is not binding on Berlin’s city government but the SPD has agreed to respect the result and it may be core to the ruling coalition there.
- CatCo Reinsurance has handed back $73.4m to its ordinary shareholders and $251.8m to its C share holders since 26 March 2019 (when shareholders approved the run-off of the portfolio). Yesterday, its board proposed to speed up the process with a ‘buy-out transaction’. Almost 97% of the remaining portfolio is tied up in ‘side-pocket investments’ – reserves held against groups of specific events such as 2017’s hurricanes (Harvey, Irma and Maria) and Californian wildfires.
- Petershill, which we wrote about here, has priced its IPO at 350p per share, valuing the business at £4bn. The total offer size is about £1.2bn. The directors intend to use the net proceeds to fund ongoing expenses and acquire further stakes in alternative asset managers. Trading starts today.
- UK Commercial Property REIT has reported a NAV total return for the six months to 30 June 2021 of 6.0% and a share price total return of 13.4%, as confidence in the commercial property sector continues to bounce back. The group paid two quarterly dividends in the period of 0.644p (a 40% increase on pandemic lows) and a top-up dividend of 0.531p was paid in May. The group has £272m of available resources for investment (£122m cash and a £150 revolving credit facility), contributing to a very low net gearing level of 1.9%.
We also have news of a new catalogue purchase by Round Hill Music Royalty.