North American Income Trust (NAIT) has outperformed in its first full year at Janus Henderson after switching from Aberdeen in August 2024. For the year to 31 January the £468m investment trust managed by Francis Radano and Jeremiah Buckley delivered an underlying total return of 8.8%. This beat the 4.9% return in sterling from the Russell 1000 Value index and the 3.1% from the S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats index. The annual results show that since the changeover the 2.9%-yielder’s total return on net assets of 20.9% up also outpaces both benchmarks’ 15.8% and 7.9% gains up to the end of January. The latest data to 23 April shows that over five years, including three-and-a-half at Aberdeen, the total portfolio return has been 69% versus 60% for the Russell 1000 Value.
Matthew Read, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “These results suggest that NAIT has bedded in well since it and its portfolio manager moved over to Janus Henderson. It is pleasing that the outperformance has been primarily driven by stock selection. NAIT’s board also deserves credit for the trust’s discount management. Clearly challenges lie ahead – sterling strength was a headwind, geopolitical risks have risen, and US markets remain heavily influenced by a narrow group of mega-cap growth stocks. However, with a growing dividend, healthy revenue reserves and evidence that the new managers are adding value through active stock selection, momentum appears to be moving in the right direction.”
Parvus Energy Efficiency Trust (AEET), the winding-down fund formerly known as Aquila, generated a 26.6% total return to shareholders last year, up from 1.6% in 2024, as it paid a total of 40.8p per share in dividends from asset disposals. Excluding the dividends, the fund’s net asset value slipped 0.8%, annual results show.
Matthew Read at QuotedData remains concerned about the terms announced this month on which the former Aquila fund managers are incentivised to sell the remaining holdings of the £18m investment company after a realisation process that has already lasted over four years. “We have already made clear that moving to a fixed-fee arrangement looks sensible at this stage of the wind-down. However, as we said we also believe that any performance fee should reward genuine value creation – namely realisations achieved above carrying value – and that the new performance fee arrangements look overly generous. This concern is heightened by the £2.1m write-down on the remaining Superbonus investments, which, while delayed, the board says are still expected to be repaid by the end of this year, delivering a 9.2% annualised return, which is in line with the assumptions made when they were first acquired. If so, the lower valuation base created by this provision would appear to make it even easier for the managers to generate a performance fee when those investments are ultimately realised.”
A government-backed “Invest for the Future” campaign to encourage UK savers to take up long-term investing has been launched, spearheaded by mascot “Savvy the Squirrel”. Chancellor Rachel Reeves attended an event at the London Stock Exchange yesterday morning to mark the start of a communication drive that will last the rest of the year. Twenty financial groups are participating including Alliance Witan (ALW) investment trust, Janus Henderson Investment Trusts, Fidelity International, JP Morgan Personal Investing, Jupiter, Schroders, Aviva, Barclays, Lloyds, Vanguard, Xtrackers and Hargreaves Lansdown.
BH Macro (BHMG), the £1.3bn Brevan Howard hedge fund, saw assets drop 3.8% in its sterling share class last month as expectations of interest rate cuts evaporated in the heat of the Middle East war. In an update the company said losses in March were primarily driven by interest rate and equity trading in Asia, with additional modest losses from Asia currencies, precious metals and credit. The net asset value of the sterling share class ended March at £4.37, down 0.9% for the first quarter.
Castelnau (CGL), the £303m special situations fund whose investments are run by Gary Channon at Phoenix Asset Management Partners, stabilised in the first three months of the year. After the 14% drop in net asset value (NAV) last year reported in annual results this week, the company has published a first quarter update showing NAV per share dipped from 112p to 111p at 31 March. The shares ended the quarter at 91p, down from 94p, at a 19% discount to NAV. Chief executive Richard Brown said Dignity, the undertakers that accounts for 84% of gross asset value (GAV) including debt, made “significant progress” in its recovery programme. Hornby, the model train maker making up 3.8% of GAV, continued its “strategic transformation” selling Scalextric for £20m and reaching breakeven.
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