In QuotedData’s morning briefing 20 March 2025:
- European Smaller Companies Trust (ESCT), which was one of the trusts targeted by Saba in its initial round of attacks, has published interim results covering the six months ended 31 December 2024. The figures show that it underperformed its benchmark index by 3.7 percentage points, returning -7.5% in NAV terms, but a narrower discount (on the back of Saba buying shares) meant that the return to shareholders was -1.6%. The board is still negotiating with Saba on what happens next. [It seems daft to me that the board didn’t take the opportunity to quantify the trust’s returns year to date. Over that period, the NAV is up 11.7% and the share price up 10.5%. I am also keen to know how much the trust spent fighting off Saba – I dearly hope that trusts highlight this, so that shareholders can fully understand the impact.]
We also have:
Foresight Environmental hails deal to expand its biofuels business
Fairly flat 2024 for Fidelity European Values turns into more exciting 2025
Did you see from yesterday?
Another year of outperformance for Schroder Asia Total Return