Henderson Smaller Companies (HSL) has narrowly outperformed its stock market benchmark for the first time in five years under new lead manager Indri van Hien. Hien took charge of the £517m investment trust last September following the retirement of Neil Hermon, who had run the listed fund for over 22 years. Assisted by deputy manager […]
Half-year results from SEGRO (SGRO) underline why US industrial real estate investment trust Prologis is keen to buy the European warehouse and data centre developer. SEGRO, which last week said it was minded to accept an improved £14bn shares and cash offer from Prologis, lifted its interim dividend by 4.5% to 10.14p per share after […]
Hammerson (HMSO), the £2bn UK real estate investment trust, has launched a £190m share issue to fund the £218m acquisition of a 50% stake in the Manchester Arndale shopping centre. The company is buying from Palma Arndale BidCo, which represents the investor consortium that bought the holding when its previous owner Intu collapsed in 2020. HMSO […]
Update: MIGO Opportunities Trust (MIGO) fund managers Tom Treanor and Charlotte Cuthbertson have backed the call from a fellow activist investor for Gresham House Energy Storage (GRID) to put itself up for sale. In their second quarter report, Treanor and Cuthbertson said the £533m battery fund was their biggest contributor to MIGO’s 5.9% investment return […]
Mobius (MMIT), the £113m emerging markets smaller companies trust, has bounced back from a difficult 2025 with a first half leap of 23% helped by gains on suppliers to the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution while cutting losses from AI losers. The underlying return in net asset value (NAV) underpinned a 22.2% advance for shareholders in […]
Aberforth Smaller Companies (ASL) has emerged unscathed from the turbulent first half as its stock picks notched up a 5.5% total portfolio return to beat the 1.8% rise in the Deutsche Numis Smaller Companies index. Share buybacks of £37.1m in the six months to 30 June helped to slightly narrow the share price discount and […]
Unite (UTG), the UK’s biggest student accommodation provider, is to pull out of nine cities in the next two years as the real estate investment trust reorganises its portfolio around the country’s 20 strongest universities. Under pressure after a 45% share price slump since unveiling its £634m top-of-the-market acquisition of Empiric Student Property last summer, […]
Biotech Growth (BIOG) has bagged its second bid for a company in a month with Forte Biosciences, a US immunological drug developer accounting for 3% of its portfolio, agreeing to a $2.2bn cash offer from Argenx SE, a Belgian-Dutch pharmaceutical company. Argenx yesterday agreed to pay $77 a share, 40.5% more than Forte’s closing price […]
Cordiant Digital Infrastructure (CORD) says its underperforming New York data centre, Hudson Interxchange, is “closer to breakeven” after signing a major new customer contract and receiving an expansion order from an existing customer. CORD bought 60 Hudson Street for £56m in January 2022 saying it was the “most interconnected facility in one of the most interconnected […]
Literacy Capital (BOOK), the £180m UK private equity fund focused on smaller businesses, is considering a move to the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market to boost its profile with investors. Shares in BOOK, which have been on the LSE’s Specialist Fund Segment since the investment trust listed in June 2021, stand nearly 38% below the […]
