Petershill Partners prepares to delist after four unsuccessful years on the UK stock market while India Capital Growth, Dunedin Income Growth, Pantheon Infrastructure, NB Private Equity and Aurora UK Alpha issue half-year results and Picton Property completes the sale of its largest office.
Petershill Partners (PHLL) shares jump 33% after the £2.5bn Goldman Sachs fund investing in alternative investment managers says it will delist and return US$4.15 cash per share to shareholders. The spike removes much of the longstanding discount at which the shares have traded since launch four years ago.
QuotedData’s James Carthew said: “Petershill’s decision to delist, after languishing at a wide discount for most of its life as a listed company, is a shame. However, I always felt that it made minimal effort to educate investors about what it was trying to achieve and how. Given that, it is no wonder that most of them ignored it.”
India Capital Growth (IGC) had a tough first half with net asset value (NAV) falling 9.3% in response to the threat of US tariffs on Indian exporters and the consequent fall in the rupee against the pound. The loss underperformed the 7.4% decline in the BSE Midcap Total Return index in the six months to 30 June. Shareholders incurred a 9.6% fall with the shares trading at an average 7.9% discount below NAV. In response the board bought back 395,000 shares with a further 86,000 purchased since half-year end. The company is also offering its third redemption opportunity in November allowing shareholders to sell shares at a narrower 3% discount. Expressing optimism about prospects, chair Elisabeth Scott said the board would not sell any shares and recommended that all shareholders followed its example. “While there are legitimate concerns about valuations and the speculation taking place in some sectors of the stock market, India’s weighting in the emerging markets indices is increasing and foreign investors are, for the most part, underweight,” she said.
Dunedin Income Growth (DIG), the Aberdeen-managed UK equity income trust that earlier this month hiked its dividend payout policy to 6% a year, underperformed in the six months to 31 July with a 3.1% total underlying investment return that lagged the 7.5% return from the FTSE All-Share index. Shareholders’ actual return from the £358m investment trust was closer to this at 7.1%, reflecting a narrowing to 8.4% in the discount to the portfolio’s net asset value. Chair Howard Williams recognised this extended an “unwelcome” run in underperformance with the trust trailing the average return of its peer group over five years while its fund managers’ quality growth style was out of favour. He held out the prospect of a recovery if the Bank of England cut interest rates in response to the struggling economy and the higher dividends stoked investor demand.
Pantheon Infrastructure (PINT), the £471m investor in digital, energy and transport assets, had a good first half with a 5.6% underlying investment return underpinning a 15.1% total shareholder return as the shares’ gap, or discount, to net asset value, narrowed (currently 7.9%), pushing the company into the “mid cap” FTSE 250 index. An interim dividend of 2.173p was declared. This week the company announced its 14th investment, a £30m commitment to US renewable energy and data centre developer Intersect Power.
NB Private Equity Partners (NBPE) made a 4% underlying dollar return in the six months to 30 June with gains in its largest private companies driving most of the half-year performance alongside rises from quoted holdings and positive currency movements. Operating performance of its companies was good with revenues and earnings up 8.8% and 9.8% respectively in the last 12 months. After a pause in transactions early in the second quarter in response to market uncertainty over US tariffs, investor appetite has improved. “While the timing and pace of a sustained rebound remains uncertain, with a number of companies in the portfolio that we believe are ‘exit ready’, NBPE is well placed to benefit as conditions improve,” the fund managers at Neuberger Berman said. Shares in the £651m investment company stand on a 30% discount to net asset value.
Aurora UK Alpha (ARR), the £276m deep value fund that passed its three-year continuation vote in June with 99% shareholder support, made an 11.5% total investment return in the first half of the year. Shareholders enjoyed a 13.2% total return in the six months to 30 June with the shares standing at a 10% discount to net asset value at half-year end. Both figures beat the 9.1% rise in the FTSE All-Share with the main contributors coming from Lloyds bank, Ryanair, Frasers Group, Nintendo and Burberry Group, although Castelnau Group, the special situations fund also run by Phoenix Asset Management Partners, detracted from returns.
Picton Property Income (PCTN) has completed the sale of Stanford Building in central London, its largest office asset by value, for £34.5m. The transaction was priced at a 1% discount to the 30 June valuation on a 4.6% net initial yield. It reduces the real estate investment trust’s interest in the office sector by 4% to 20%, while industrial, warehouse and logistics exposure rises to 68% and retail and leisure exposure is unchanged at 12%. The company will use £12.5m for share buybacks and the remainder for future investments.
