Overview
Acorn Income Fund’s aim is to provide a high level of income with the opportunity for capital growth over the life of the Company.
Acorn Income Fund invests in two portfolios; the Smaller Companies Portfolio (70-80%), managed by Simon Moon and Fraser Mackersie from Unicorn, invests predominantly in UK equities with a market capitalisation of under £1 billion. The focus is on companies with experienced and well-motivated management, products or services supplying growth markets, sound operational and management controls, good cash generation and a progressive dividend; the Income Portfolio (20-30%), managed by Chun Lee and Robin Willis from Premier Miton, invests in fixed interest securities and high yielding investment company shares (up to 15% of the portfolio).
The fund’s managing website can be found here.
Research History
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10 Sep 2020 5 min read
QuotedData’s Economic Roundup – September 2020
Economic & Political Roundup Kindly sponsored by Allianz A collation of recent insights on markets and economies taken from the comments made by chairmen and investment managers of investment companies – have a read and make your own minds up. Please remember that nothing in this note is designed to encourage you to buy or sell […]
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14 Jul 2020 9 min read
QuotedData’s Investment Companies Quarterly Review – Second Quarter 2020
Investment Companies Quarterly Roundup Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford and Aberdeen Standard Investments Table of contents In this issue Performance data Positive movers Negative movers Discounts and premiums Getting more expensive Getting cheaper Money in and out Money in Money out Major news stories Upcoming Events New research Guide The legal bit When the going gets […]
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17 Apr 2020 8 min read
QuotedData’s Investment Companies Quarterly Review – First Quarter 2020
Investment Companies Quarterly Roundup Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford and Aberdeen Standard Investments Table of contents In this issue Performance data Positive movers Negative movers Discounts and premiums Getting more expensive Getting cheaper Money in and out Money in Money out Major news stories Upcoming Events New research The legal bit Unprecedented times We have knitted […]
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07 Apr 2020 8 min read
QuotedData’s Investment Companies Roundup – April 2020
Investment Companies Roundup Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford and Aberdeen Standard Investments Table of contents New research In this issue Performance data Discounts and premiums Money in and out Major news stories Income Events Guide Appendix – Performance by sector full list New research Here is a list of research we published over March: An update note […]
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10 Mar 2020 7 min read
QuotedData’s Investment Companies Roundup – March 2020
Investment Companies Roundup Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford and Aberdeen Standard Investments Table of contents New research In this issue Performance data Discounts and premiums Money in and out Major news stories Income Events Guide New research Here is a list of research we published over February: An initiation note on Montanaro UK Smaller Companies Trust (MTU) […]
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24 Jan 2020 20 min read
QuotedData’s Investment Companies Annual Review – 2019
In this issue The sector at the end of 2019 Performance data Performance by sector and fund Money in and out of the sector Money in and out of existing funds Money coming into existing funds Money going out of existing funds Liquidations, de-listings and trading cancellations Significant rating changes Major news stories Outlook for […]
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10 Jan 2020 5 min read
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – January 2020
Investment Companies Roundup Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford Table of contents New research In this issue Performance data Discounts and premiums Money in and out Income Events New research Here is a list of research we published over December: An update note on BlackRock Throgmorton (THRG) “BlackRock Throgmorton continues to lead its peer group in […]
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11 Sep 2019 3 min read
QuotedData’s economic roundup – September 2019
Economic & Political Roundup Kindly sponsored by Polar Capital and Allianz A collation of recent insights on markets and economies taken from the comments made by chairmen and investment managers of investment companies – have a read and make your own minds up. Please remember that nothing in this note is designed to encourage you […]
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07 Aug 2019 3 min read
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – August 2019
Investment Companies Roundup New research Over July, we published notes on CQS New City High Yield, BlackRock Throgmorton, Strategic Equity Capital, Seneca Global Income & Growth, CG Asset Management, Standard Life Investments Property Income and Aberdeen New Dawn. You can read all these notes by clicking on the links above or by visiting www.quoteddata.com. In this issue Performance data – appetite […]
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05 Jul 2019 3 min read
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – July 2019
Investment Companies Roundup New research Over June, we published notes on CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income, Standard Life Private Equity and Shires Income. You can read all these notes by clicking on the links above or by visiting www.quoteddata.com. In this issue Performance data – there was a greater appetite for risk in June as […]
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08 May 2019 4 min read
QuotedData’s economic roundup – May 2019
Economic & Political Roundup A collation of recent insights on markets and economies taken from the comments made by chairmen and investment managers of investment companies – have a read and make your own minds up. Please remember that nothing in this note is designed to encourage you to buy or sell any of the […]
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18 Jan 2019 1 min read
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – January 2019
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – January 2019 is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of December 2018. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. Extract from money raised and returned in December The only new issue […]
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14 Sep 2018 1 min read
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – September 2018
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – September 2018 is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of August 2018. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. Money raised and returned in August GRIT Real Estate Income floated on the UK Stock Exchange in […]
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18 Apr 2018 1 min read
QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – April 2018
QuotedData investment companies roundup – April 2018 – is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of March 2018. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. Stock markets have suffered their first meaningful fall for nearly two years. At the quarter end, […]
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16 May 2017 2 min read
QuotedData investment companies roundup – May 2017
QuotedData investment companies roundup: Our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of April 2017. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. Money in: The only new launch in April was EJF Investments, a £69m fund trying to take advantage of […]
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1 min read
QuotedData’s economic round up – May 2017
QuotedData’s economic round up – May 2017 is a collation of recent insights on markets and economies taken from the comments made by chairmen and investment managers of investment companies – have a read and make your own minds up. Please remember that nothing in this note is designed to encourage you to buy or sell […]
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14 Feb 2017 1 min read
QuotedData investment companies roundup – February 2017
Our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of January 2017. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. February Investment Companies Roundup
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08 Nov 2016 1 min read
QuotedData investment companies roundup – November 2016
Our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of October 2016. november-investment-companies-roundup-2
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27 Oct 2016 1 min read
Quarterly investment companies roundup – Third quarter 2016
Q3 saw the market adapt to life post the UK’s EU referendum. Sterling continued to fall but most stock markets stabilised and discounts narrowed across most sectors. While the US election is dominating headlines, it does not seem to be having much impact on markets so far. q3-quarterly-roundup
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27 Apr 2015 1 min read
The importance of income – where to find it?
Life used to be simpler. If you had a bit of spare cash or you wanted to save up for something you’d just stick some money in a bank or building society account. If you had a nest egg and wanted to invest it in something safe and live off the income, you’d maybe buy […]
News
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12 Oct 2021 2 min read
QuotedData’s morning briefing 12 October 2021
In QuotedData’s morning briefing 12 October 2021: Shareholders approved the liquidation of St Peter Port Capital (SPPC) yesterday. The company was launched in April 2007 to invest in pre-IPO companies but was caught holding a lot of resource companies that didn’t IPO when expected. Partners Group says that its funds, including Princess Private Equity (PEY), […]
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23 Sep 2021 2 min read
QuotedData’s morning briefing 23 September 2021
In QuotedData’s morning briefing 23 September 2021: Acorn Income has published a circular convening the meetings necessary to get shareholder approval for its plan to liquidate and offer investors a choice of cash or a rollover into an open-ended fund managed by Unicorn – the Unicorn UK Income Fund – this will be the default […]
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01 Sep 2021 2 min read
Acorn Income announces ‘scheme of reconstruction’
Acorn Income announces ‘scheme of reconstruction’ – Acorn Income (AIF) has announced that it is proposing a scheme of reconstruction. The board says it reviewed proposals regarding its future and following consultation with some shareholders, the board has concluded that offering a rollover of its assets into Unicorn UK Income fund, an open ended vehicle managed […]
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12 Aug 2021 1 min read
Shock reversal in Acorn plans
Shock reversal in Acorn plans – Acorn’s board has, this morning, made the following announcement: “Further to the Company’s announcement on 17 May 2021, where the Board of the Company announced proposals to recommend the appointment of BMO Global Asset Management to manage the Company under a new Sustainable Global Equity Income investment strategy (the […]
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21 May 2021 1 min read
QuotedData’s weekly news show 21 May 2021
QuotedData’s weekly news show 21 May 2021 Thank you to everyone that listened in today, whether you watched the Zoom live, on Facebook or on Youtube. In this week’s show, James Carthew covered the week’s top stories: Acorn Income set to appoint BMO following strategic review Cordiant Digital Infrastructure launching a placing of C shares Schroder […]
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2 min read
QD view – warm fuzzy feelings?
QD view – warm fuzzy feelings? Alphabet soup time ESG (environmental, social and governance) comes up a lot in the investment world currently. There are good reasons for that. The UK government said last year that it wants to make climate-related disclosures mandatory, in line with recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). […]
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17 May 2021 3 min read
Acorn Income set to appoint BMO following strategic review
Acorn Income (AIF) has concluded its strategic review and, having received strong interest from a number of managers, has proposed to recommend the appointment of BMO Global Asset Management (BMO) as its manager, and the adoption of a new investment objective and policy. The strategic review had been announced on 21 April, and you can access […]
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23 Apr 2021 1 min read
QuotedData’s weekly news show 23 April 2021
QuotedData’s weekly news show 23 April 2021 Thank you to everyone that listened in today, whether you watched the Zoom live, on Facebook or on Youtube. In this week’s show, James Carthew covered the week’s top stories: Acorn Income Fund update Gore Street Energy Storage raise of 135m Schiehallion raise of 700m for C share […]
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21 Apr 2021 2 min read
Acorn Income rethinks its future after difficult 2020
Acorn Income rethinks its future after difficult 2020 – Acorn Income Fund has published results for the year ended 31 December 2020. This was not a great period for this company which is geared by zero dividend preference shares and invests in a mix of UK small caps and high yielding securities. The NAV total return […]
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25 Feb 2021 2 min read
QuotedData’s morning briefing 25 February 2021
In QuotedData’s morning briefing 25 February 2021: Following its recent good news, KKV Secured Loan Fund will hand back 5p per share (£17.8m) to ordinary shareholders and 12p per share (£16.7m) to C shareholders. The ex date for these distributions will be 5 March 2021 and payment should arrive within the next couple of weeks after […]
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18 Aug 2020 1 min read
QuotedData’s morning briefing 18 August 2020
In QuotedData’s morning briefing 18 August 2020: Acorn Income declared a third interim dividend of 5.75p – in line with previous quarters – but its revenue reserves are running down as it uses these to top up income lost to dividend cuts by companies in its portfolio. Revenue reserves at 30 June were 14.6p, having been […]
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17 Aug 2020 2 min read
QuotedData’s morning briefing 17 August 2020
In QuotedData’s morning briefing 17 August 2020: Following on from the news on 14 August that 2020 that UK Mortgages (UKML) had rejected M&G’s revised offer (we wrote about this here) of 70p per share, UKML’s board noted the following: “The board continues to believe that M&G Investment Management’s proposals undervalued the company and its […]
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29 Apr 2020 5 min read
Acorn Income discusses its outlook
Acorn Income (AIF), the UK-focused small-cap equity and fixed-income trust, released its annual performance figures today. Over the year to 31 December 2019, AIF delivere a total return on gross assets, which measures the return on the portfolio including all income and costs, amounted to 19.2%, while the total return on net assets, enhanced by […]
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19 Aug 2019 1 min read
QuotedData’s other news 19 August 2019
In QuotedData’s other news 19 August 2019 – Acorn Income Fund has reported interim results showing its portfolio lagging the Numis Small Cap Index and the All Share. Acorn’s geared structure made up for some of the shortfall (the NAV return was 9.7% against 10.5% and 13.0% for the indices, respectively) and a narrower discount […]
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11 Apr 2019 3 min read
Acorn Income discount widens as investors retreat from small-cap
Acorn Income discount widens as investors retreat from small-cap – Acorn Income (AIF), the UK-focused small-cap equity and fixed-income trust, discusses the difficulties it faced in 2018 and the outlook for its strategy, in its annual report published today, covering the year to December 31. The company invests in two portfolios – smaller companies (70-80%) […]
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19 Apr 2017 3 min read
Acorn Income suffers post referendum
Over the course of 2016, the Numis Smaller Companies (ex investment companies) Total Return Index lagged the broader market with an increase of 11.08%. Acorn Income Fund suffered from the relative weakness of the small company sector, some underperformance of the Numis Index and a widening of the discount to NAV at which its Ordinary […]
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17 Jan 2017 1 min read
Acorn Income Fund sees 91.4% of ZDP holders opt for continuation
On 29 November 2016, Acorn Income Fund’s (AIF’s) Board announced proposals including the extension of the life of the existing ZDP Shares to 28 February 2022; a Continuation Offer to ZDP Shareholders whereby such holders were given an opportunity to either receive their 2017 Final Capital Entitlement in cash on 31 January 2017 or to […]
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01 Dec 2016 1 min read
Acorn Income moves to extend life of zeros
Acorn Income Fund has announced proposals that seek to extend the life of its zeros until 28 February 2022. Zero holders have the option their cash back in 2017 as planned. There will also be an opportunity to subscribe for new ordinary shares and new zeros. Acorn Income has, currently, two classes of shares in issue: […]
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15 Nov 2016 1 min read
UIL, Industrial Multi Property Third Quarter Winners – QuotedData
LONDON (Alliance News) – The best performer in both price and net asset value terms in the third quarter was UIL Ltd, boosted by its largest investment, Australian-listed Resolute Mining Ltd, which benefited from a strong gold price. Industrial Multi Property Trust PLC and Kubera-Cross Border Fund Ltd both saw recoveries in their share price […]
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31 Aug 2016 4 min read
Acorn’s smaller companies portfolio suffers in the wake of Brexit
Acorn Income Fund has announced its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2016. During the period, Acorn’s gross assets provided a total return of -8.13%, whilst its NAV total return was -13.95%. Reflecting an increase in the premium to NAV at which the company’s shares traded, the share price total return was […]
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08 Apr 2016 3 min read
Acorn Income benefits from being geared as its gross assets were rising
Acorn Income Fund has released its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2015. During the year, the company’s gross asset portfolio performance (adjusted for share issuance and buybacks) provided a total return of 17% outperforming the small cap indices. The Ordinary Share net asset value total return was 22.1%. The company says that […]
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31 Aug 2015 1 min read
Acorn Income Fund cashes in on FTSE Hedge
Over the first half of 2015 Acorn Income Fund generated a return on its gross assets of 11.9% – marginally ahead of the 11.8% return posted by the Numis Smaller Companies Index (ex investment companies). Thanks to the gearing effect of the zeros, the total NAV return on the ordinary shares was 16.3%. The return […]
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20 Jul 2015 1 min read
UK smaller companies trusts dominate Q2 best-performers
UK small-caps has emerged as the stand-out sector for investment trusts in Q2 2015, according to statistics from QuotedData. The report, published 16 June, showed that UK smaller companies-focused mandates accounted for the majority of best-performing funds in NAV terms for the quarter. http://www.portfolio-adviser.com/news/1023811/uk-companies-trusts-dominate-q2-performers
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16 Jul 2015 1 min read
Small company investment trusts got election boost
Investment trusts specialising in smaller companies were among the top performers of the past few months after a decisive election result improved confidence in the sector, new research shows. But commodity and Asia-focused investment trusts were among the stragglers as investors shunned stocks exposed to an economic slowdown in China or a US rate rise, […]
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02 Apr 2015 2 min read
Split Structure works against Acorn in 2014
Acorn Income Fund released results for the year ended 31 December 2014 yesterday. Over 2014 the total return on gross assets was -0.4%. This compares to a -1.8% return on the Numis Smaller Companies ex Investment Companies Index, a -2.7% return on the FTSE Small Cap. ex Investment Companies Index and a 1.2% return on the […]
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22 Aug 2014 1 min read
Acorn Income Fund’s discount opened up during the first half of 2014
AIF : Acorn Income Fund’s discount opened up during the first half of 2014 Acorn Income Fund‘s recent interims report a fractional fall in NAV during the period (359.97p to 359.20p) but, with a dividends totalling 6.25p, total return during the period was 1.52%. This was modestly behind the FTSE All-Share (1.59%) but ahead of the […]
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09 Jun 2014 1 min read
Acorn Income Fund : AIF – John McClure
Sadly, Acorn Income Fund has announced that John McClure, co-manager of the fund, has died. John was involved with the management of the fund from its inception and although Unicorn Asset Management say Simon Moon and Fraser Mackersie, the other co-managers of the Company’s smaller companies portfolio who have worked with John since 2008 will […]
Upcoming Events
Videos
In The Press
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05 Aug 2020 1 min read
Bargain Hunter: cheapest equity investment trusts revealed
Bargain Hunter: cheapest equity investment trusts revealed by Kyle Caldwell from interactive investor | 4th August 2020 12:53 Research in the equity investment trust universe highlights the biggest potential bargains… Research for interactive investor by QuotedData screened the equity investment trusts with assets of at least £10 million for potential bargains. The data (as at 3 August) shows some trusts […]
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27 Apr 2020 1 min read
Gearing levels were ‘modest’ heading into market sell-off
Investment trust gearing levels were ‘modest’ heading into market sell-off Data shows that ahead of the sell-off most investment trusts had ‘modest’ gearing levels, so losses were not as heavy as they otherwise could have been. Money Observer April 23, 2020 by Kyle Caldwell The use of gearing to enhance returns over the long term is a key […]
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07 Feb 2019 1 min read
Investment Trust Insider on the past decade
Investment Trust Insider on the past decade – James Carthew: the constant evolution of investment trusts A decade ago, when we were emerging from the global financial crisis, I was managing Advance UK Trust and Citywire was just 10 years old. All of this seems like a long time ago now. Recently, I found a Winterflood […]
