Investment Company News

21 Dec 2015

Caledonia completes Gala Bingo acquisition

On 26 October 2015, Caledonia Investments announced that it had agreed to acquire Gala Bingo Holdings Limited, the UK’s largest retail bingo operator, from Gala Coral Group, in a transaction which valued the business at £241m. The acquisition was conditional on change of control approval by the Gambling Commission, which has now been granted, and […]

21 Dec 2015

Schroder Global Real Estate Securities to put forward liquidation proposals

The board of Schroder Global Real Estate Securities has announced that a scheme for liquidating the company is to be put to shareholders for approval. They say that it is expected that the proposals will offer an opportunity for shareholders to retain their exposure to the same asset class through one or more open-ended vehicles […]

21 Dec 2015

Hammerson sells Monument Mall, Newcastle for £75m

Hammerson has announced that it has exchanged contracts for the sale of two assets for a total of £87m. This includes its wholly owned shopping centre Monument Mall in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (pictured), which is being sold to Standard Life Investments UK Property Fund for gross proceeds of £75m. Monument Mall was acquired in 2011 for £28m and […]

21 Dec 2015
21 Dec 2015

JPMorgan Brazil outperforms falling market

JPMorgan Brazil reported a total return on net assets for the six month period ended 31 October 2015 of -33.9%, whereas the benchmark, the MSCI 10/40 Index (in sterling terms) recorded -35.6% for the same period. The manager’s report says the portfolio’s underweight in energy was a strong positive contributor, with the portfolio benefiting in particular from […]

21 Dec 2015

Geiger Counter suffers despite rising Uranium prices

Geiger Counter reported a 43% fall in its NAV over the year that ended on 30 September 2015 – in line with the fall in the URA Uranium Equity ETF. A large part of the fall in the ETF price though relates to a widening discount as, they say, the discount on the physically-backed uranium ETF, […]

18 Dec 2015

GCP Infrastructure returns 9.5%

GCP Infrastructure has announced results for the year ended 30 September 2015. They made a total return for the year of 9.5%. The NAV at 30 September 2015 was 107.47p. The dividend for the year was 7.6p. Earnings per share were 9.30 pence which is broadly in line with 2014. They raised an additional £140m in […]

18 Dec 2015

Phaunos Timber sells three Uruguayan assets

The Board of Phaunos Timber Fund has announced the sale of three of the nine properties that comprise the Pradera Roja estate, in Uruguay, for USD 4.2 million. The sale is in line with the strategy announced earlier this year, of rebalancing the Company’s portfolio to one that has more mature, yield producing assets. The […]