Takeover Panel says it will hold an auction for Warehouse REIT next week; top-performing Temple Bar publishes strong half-year results; plus updates from Blackfinch Spring VCT, Ashoka Whiteoak Emerging Markets and dividends from Aberdeen Equity Income and LondonMetric Property.
The Takeover Panel says it will hold an auction for Warehouse REIT (WHR) if neither Blackstone or Tritax Big Box REIT (BBOX) have finalised their offers by 5pm on Monday. The panel says there has been no development in the bid battle since the board of Warehouse switched its recommendation back to Blackstone on 11 July in response to its improved cash offer of 115p per share including the fourth quarter dividend. The auction will be held over five days ending on 1 September.
Temple Bar (TMPL) generated a total investment return of 14.2% in the first half of the year to beat the 9.1% gain in the FTSE All-Share index as bids and successful value-style stock picks of fund managers Ian Lance and Nick Purves boosted the portfolio. Read our full story here.
Blackfinch Spring VCT (BFSP), a technology focused venture capital trust, reports a first half net asset value fall of 4.1% with NAV per share declining to 99.1p at 30 June from 103.6p on 31 December, although 5.2p of dividends leaves shareholders with a positive total return. The shares stand at 95.9p. Disappointingly, Kokoon Technology went into administration with the stake written down over two quarters. The five-year-old VCT raised £23m in its annual share offer lifting net assets to £64.2m. It now has 35 high growth companies in the portfolio, up from 32. These generally continue to perform well despite the challenging economic backdrop, with a number of companies said to be achieving “significant revenue growth”.
Ashoka Whiteoak Emerging Markets (AWEM) says net asset value rose 4.9% in July, underperforming the MSCI Emerging Markets index which gained 5.6%. The key stock contributors to the performance were TSMC (+10.9%), Samsung Electronics (+20.3%), and Delta Electronics (+39.1%). OneSource Specialty Pharma (-9.1%), CIE Fin. Richemont (-9.4%), and SK Hynix (-5.6%) were the key detractors.
Aberdeen Equity Income (AEI) declares a third interim dividend of 5.7p per share. The 6%-yielder still expects to pay total dividends of at least 23p per share for the year to 30 September.
LondonMetric Property (LMP) declares a 7% increase in its first quarterly interim dividend to 3.05p per share.
GRIT (GRIT), the small mining investment trust preparing to reverse into Namibian oil and gas explorer Nabirm, appoints RPG Crouch Chapman as auditor after PKF Littlejohn resigned.
