Brown Advisory US Smaller Companies (BASC), the £171m investment trust that launched a strategic review in July after underperforming its benchmark over five years, has published annual results showing an investment return of 24.5%. Despite the strong absolute performance, it again lagged the Russell 2000 index which rallied an “impressive” 45.7%, ahead of US large cap indices. Shareholders saw a total return of 27.6% as the share price discount to net asset value narrowed from 10.4% to 8.2%. Chair Stephen White said the review continued with the aim of providing a significant cash exit opportunity for shareholders while also having regard to the continued viability of the company.

Matthew Read, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “These are strong results in absolute terms but it is no surprise that BASC has massively underperformed its benchmark as its value-focused investment approach does not favour the sort of speculative and AI-related stocks that drove the benchmark’s exceptional return, while higher-quality businesses remained out of favour. The positive news is that operational progress across much of the portfolio remained solid, eight holdings were acquired during the year and there are signs that market leadership is beginning to broaden. However, with the strategic review now underway and some shareholders pushing for a nearer-term liquidity event, there is a question mark over the long-term future for the trust.”

Tritax Big Box REIT (BBOX) has reached practical completion of the 1m sq ft logistics facility at Symmetry Park, Kettering that is pre-let to Amazon on a 20-year lease, with five-yearly index-linked rent reviews. BBOX said this delivers a yield on cost at the top end of its 6-8% guidance and ahead of original expectations and secures £9.8m of annual rental income