The market’s concentration around artificial intelligence (AI) stocks continues to challenge Alliance Witan (ALW). Extending a trend from the previous two years, the £4.9bn FTSE 100 constituent said its diversified multi-manager portfolio underperformed in the first half of the year, returning 7% against the 12.7% total return from the MSCI All Country World index. Alliance […]
LondonMetric (LMP) and Schroder Real Estate (SREI) have finalised their recommended all-share bid for Picton Property Income (PCTN). As announced in the revised offer this month, PCTN shareholders will receive 0.190 LMP and 0.894 SREI shares per PCTN share, currently worth 78.7p, an 8.2% discount to the net asset value at 30 June. The 20-year-old […]
European Opportunities Trust (EOT) has issued an update on the vote on Tuesday when shareholders approved its wind-down. This reveals 58% of shares in the £456m investment trust chose to switch into JPMorgan European Growth and Income (JEGI) meaning the top performer will receive £265m of assets to take it to just under £900m. A […]
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, […]
