News

03 Apr 2025

Cautious stance holds back Invesco Bond Income Plus but it remains popular

Invesco Bond Income Plus results for 2024 show NAV and share price total returns for the year of 8.5% and 8.8% respectively. The NAV return was below the 10.2% achieved by the ICE Bank of America Merrill Lynch European Currency High Yield Index (hedged to GBP) but above the average return of 4.6% for funds […]

03 Apr 2025

Columbia Threadneedle announces succession plan for Peter Hewitt

Peter Hewitt has been responsible for the management of CT Managed Portfolio’s Income and Growth portfolios since their inception in April 2008. Peter has given notice of his desire to retire. The board and Columbia Threadneedle Investments have been planning for this for some time, while acknowledging that managing Peter’s succession would be no easy […]

03 Apr 2025

European Assets board dissatisfied with performance as it lags benchmark yet again

European Assets has published results for 2024. Its NAV total return was -0.8% and share price return -3.6%. These compare to a 2.4% return for its MSCI Europe excluding United Kingdom Small Mid Cap (Net Return) Index benchmark. The chairman observes that the longer-term performance of the company has been disappointing. The sterling NAV total […]

03 Apr 2025

JPMorgan American cements impressive year to extend its lead over the S&P500

JPMorgan American has published results covering 2024 which show it beating the S&P500 Index in both NAV and share price terms. The trust posted a NAV total return of 30.6% compared with 27.0% for the S&P 500 Index and a share price total return 32.6%. Since the company changed its investment approach on 1 June […]

03 Apr 2025

AVI Japan Opportunity wants to merge with Fidelity Japan, largest shareholder onside

AVI Japan Opportunity is proposing to merge (via a s110 scheme) with Fidelity Japan to create a more liquid, larger fund, targeting highly attractive investment opportunities in the Japanese equities space. The idea is supported by Fidelity Japan’s largest shareholder, City of London Investment Management, which holds approximately 23% of FJV’s issued share capital. Fidelity […]

03 Apr 2025

Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon disappoints again, appoints new deputy manager

Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon’s results for the 12 months ended 31 January 2025 make grim reading. The NAV fell by 5.0% and the share price by 5.1%. By contrast, the benchmark was up 8.9%. This extends a the trust’s run of underperformance and, over five years, leaves it trailing the benchmark by 42 percentage points […]

03 Apr 2025

Cordiant Digital Infrastructure says Emitel has secured new mobile tower contract

Cordiant Digital Infrastructure says that its Polish portfolio company, Emitel, has signed a long-term agreement with Orange Polska S.A. a leading mobile network operator in Poland, to expand mobile network coverage in the country. Under a built-to-suit model, Emitel will construct hundreds of new telecommunications towers for Orange over the next few years. Orange, as […]

03 Apr 2025

VH Global Energy Infrastructure kicks off strategic review

VH Global Energy Infrastructure has published results for 2024. The NAV fell by 11.4% to 103.21p. The dividend for the year was up 2.7% to 5.71p and this was covered by cash flow 0.96x. The target for 2025 is 5.80p, up 2.1%. The statement avoids any direct mention of share prices. For reference, it fell […]

03 Apr 2025

Impax Environmental Markets pleads case for continuation after difficult year

Impax Environmental Markets has announced results covering the 12 months ended 31 December 2024. Over the period, the NAV total return was -0.4% and the share price total return was -2.6%. These compare to a 19.6% return on the MSCI All Countries World Index and a 16.8% return on the FTSE ET100 Index. The dividend […]