Aquila European Renewables posts a 12.1% slump in net asset value a week after pausing its sale process, Hiren Dasani reunites with Ashoka founder Prashant Khemka from Goldman Sachs and Mobius says emerging markets could shine as US falters.

Aquila assets plunge 12.1% in June quarter

Aquila European Renewables (AERI), the winding-down company that “paused” its sale last week, says net asset value (NAV) fell 12.1% to €279.3m in the second quarter due to falling power price forecasts, an increase to 8.8% in the discount valuation rate and below budget generation in both solar and wind with its Finnish wind farm Olhava continuing to be in lock-up because of debt covenant breaches. NAV per share stood at 73.87 euro cents down from 84 cents on 31 March, which Deutsche Numis analyst Andrew Rees says is “disappointing” but to some extent inevitable after the company received a lower-than-expected offer from its preferred bidder in July. It declared a second interim dividend payment of 0.1934 euro cents, covered by earnings. The shares fell 3.5% to 52 euro cents at a 30% discount.

Hiren Dasani joins Ashoka

Ashoka India Equity (AIE) and Ashoka WhiteOak Emerging Markets (AWEM) are getting a new co-manager in Hiren Dasani who joins WhiteOak Capital Partners as chief investment officer of emerging markets from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, where he previously worked with WhiteOak’s founder Prashant Khemka. He will work on the £480m AIE with Khemka and co-manager Ayush Abhijeet and on £50m AWEM with Khemka and co-managers Fadrique Balmaseda and Loong Lim.

Mobius: US will likely come off worst

Mobius (MMIT), the £160m smaller companies emerging markets trust managed by Carlos Hardenberg, says market volatility over US tariffs set back net asset value by 8.2% in the six months to 31 May with the shares proving more resilient with a 5.2% drop. In the two months since half-year-end there has been a “significant recovery” with NAV per share and share price total returns of 7% and 8.1%. This has reduced the year to date NAV loss from 1 December to 1.7% while the share price total return is now positive at 2.5%. The company is optimistic about prospects partly because of “the growing evidence that the country imposing tariffs often ends up, in many respects, suffering the most. The ongoing depreciation of the US dollar, coupled with persistently high and unpredictable tariff levels, is likely to further erode both consumer confidence at home and international trust in the US”, which could make emerging markets look a safer bet.

Seraphim’s ICEYE helps in Texas

Seraphim Space (SSIT) says its largest holding ICEYE continues to demonstrate the value of its SAR satellite constellation disaster response. In its monthly newsletter it says: “During recent flooding in Texas, ICEYE provided FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) with near-instant mapping of nearly 100 square miles, helping first responders target search and rescue efforts and accelerating recovery. With its machine learning-powered flood rapid impact product now delivering updates every six hours, ICEYE is increasingly replacing legacy aerial and ground-based monitoring for governments and insurers.”

Crystal’s Morphic gets new boss

Crystal Amber (CRS), the winding-down activist fund, says Morphic Medical, the medical device company that is its biggest remaining holding, has a new chief executive. Joe Virgilio is stepping down after five years, having secured European approval for Morphic’s endoscopic, non-surgical treatment for obesity and type 2 diabetes. He is replaced by Mike Gutteridge who steps up from commercial director.

SWEF states NAV after Dublin write-down

Starwood European Real Estate Fund (SWEF) has published its net asset value following the announcement yesterday of a further €7.3m provision on its office loans in Dunblin. Taking the 1.375p dividend announced today, NAV per share of was 97.41p at 30 June, a 10% discount to the then 87.5p share price. The £130m company is winding down and has six investments left.

JUGI declares 3.6p dividend

JPMorgan UK Small Cap Growth & Income (JUGI) says its net asset value (NAV) was 362.58p per share at its financial year-end of 31 July, down from 376.24p a year ago. In line with its 4% distribution policy, the company has declared a first quarterly interim dividend of 3.63p per share which will be paid on 1 October. The ex-dividend date will be 21st August 2025.

Schroder Real Estate stable

Schroder Real Estate (SREI) says net asset value of its portfolio edged up 0.2% to £301.9m in the second quarter with NAV per share of 61.7p at 30 June as conditions in UK commercial real estate remained subdued. With the quarterly dividend included the total investment return was 1.6%. At yesterday’s close the shares stood at 52.5p on a 20% discount to NAV and a yield of 6.8%. Quarterly earnings rose 7.3% to £4.4m or 0.9p per share to cover the first interim dividend of 0.897p that has been announced.

Custodian buys back shares

Custodian Property Income REIT (CREI) spent £87,304 buying 110,000 shares yesterday at 79.4p as part of the buyback programme announced on 17 July. The company now holds 410,000 shares in treasury for potential re-issue if and when its stock re-rates from the current 20% discount below net asset value.

JGGI mops up last debenture

JPMorgan Global Growth & Income (JGGI) bought back the last £193.60 of 4.5% debentures in the market. The company paid the same price of 154.81p as it paid to other Indenture investors. This compared to the par value of 100p.