Schroder Oriental Income (SOI) had a great six-month period to end of February 2026, with an NAV return of 35.3% and share price return of 38.1%, both well ahead of the benchmark MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan Index return of 30.7%. It is rebalancing its dividend profile – increasing the size of its interim dividends at the expense of the final dividend – and is looking forward to achieving full “dividend hero” status later this year, when it should have 20 years of consecutive dividend increases under its belt. Despite the good returns, it is still buying back stock – aiming to buy shares when the discount is over 5%. 3.1m shares were bought back in the period and 2.3m shares since (the uplift likely reflecting the turbulent time since the US attacked Iran).
As GCP Infrastructure (GCP) progresses its capital allocation policy, it says it bought back 8,479,700 shares over Q1 2026 and the outstanding balance on its revolving credit facility is just £27m (net debt £17m) or 2% of NAV. The £850.6m portfolio is trading on a discount to its £903.4m par value, and is made up of 7 investments with a weight-adjusted average annualised yield of 8.0% and an average life of 11 years.
BlackRock Greater Europe (BRGE) lagged its benchmark by 10 percentage points over the six months ended 28 February, returning 7.3% in NAV terms and 7.2% in share price terms, compared with 17.2% for the FTSE World Europe ex UK Index. The chair blames “a continuation of the underperformance of quality growth stocks and market performance being led by a narrow set of stocks”. The perceived impact of AI on stocks had a significant influence on returns, with stocks that look vulnerable to AI-related competition suffering and investors rotating into the “HALO” trade (Heavy Asset, Low Obsolescence) – businesses seen as less vulnerable to technological disruption, such as utilities, infrastructure and industrial companies with significant physical assets. As previously reported, the manager stepped down at the end of March for health reasons, and we continue to wish him all the best.
Aquila European Renewables (AERI) says that Christopher Mills is joining its board today as a non-executive director. He founded Harwood Capital Management in 2011, as a successor to its former parent company JO Hambro Capital Management, which he co-founded in 1993 and of which he was formerly the chief investment officer. He is currently the CEO and investment manager of North Atlantic Smaller Companies (NAS) and a non-exec of several companies. Chris will donate his fees received to the Harwood Charitable Trust, which provides educational support, mainly for doctors in Africa. Chris replaces Myrtle Dawes who intends to step down from the board at the 2026 Annual General Meeting. AERI’s chair, Robert Naylor, and Chris Mills work together on Achilles Investment Company, which is part of the Harwood stable of trusts.
