Sentiment towards property largely improved in October, with the big names all seeing share price gains as UK inflation data came in slightly below expectations. However, residential REIT Grainger’s shares continue to fall as the Renters’ Reform Bill was passed into law during the month. All eyes now turn to the budget at the end […]
Schroder Income Growth (SCF), a £225m “dividend hero”, has urged shareholders to give the investment trust another five years at next month’s continuation vote but has not ruled out accepting a merger offer if one materialises during the consolidation trend sweeping the listed funds market. Chair Ewan Cameron Watt said the board was “not blind to the argument that […]
AVI Japan Opportunity secures bulk of Fidelity Japan’s assets in their merger; 3i Infrastructure posts good half-year results; high-yielding Henderson Far East Income continues to turn around, its annual report shows; stable mate Henderson Smaller appoints Cassie Herlihy from Gresham House; and HgCapital announces a new software investment. AVI Japan Opportunity (AJOT), the £230m smaller […]
Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) and NextEnergy Solar (NESF) have revealed the hit they face from the government’s controversial proposals to change the inflation link in renewable incentives, setting out the arguments they intend to use with officials. UK Wind, the £2.1bn Schroders Greencoat listed fund, the largest in the renewables infrastructure sector, estimates the Department […]
Foresight Solar (FSFL) fund manager Ross Driver is to leave Foresight Group at the end of the year as the £394m renewables fund grapples with a 37% share price discount and government proposals to cut incentive payments to clean energy generators. The company said Driver, who joined Foresight in 2021 after seven years at InfraRed […]
Literacy Capital (BOOK), the £227m UK private equity fund, will make its first capital distribution this month, returning £6m to shareholders under the shareholder-approved B-share scheme. Plans for the distribution were announced in July when the investment company booked a 52% uplift in the valuation of its then second biggest holding Velociti Solutions and sold […]
Supermarket Income REIT (SUPR) has entered the convenience store sector for the first time after announcing £40.9m of acquisitions which mean it has deployed half of the £200m raised from a joint venture with Blue Owl Capital in April. It has bought 10 Sainsbury’s convenience stores for £15.3m on a net initial yield of 6.1% […]
We have written previously about the rapidly growing European active exchange-traded fund (ETF) sector. One of the more interesting aspects of this growth has been the role of thematic funds, and we have had a good example this week, with the launch of the ARK Space & Defence Innovation UCITS ETF (ARKX). Having listed in […]
Bluefield Solar Income (BSIF), the £445m renewables fund that put up for sale itself and its fund manager this week, has disclosed the biggest potential hit if the government pursues its most radical proposal for replacing the inflation measure used in ROC and FIT incentives. The Department of Energy’s first option of a simple switch from RPI to CP would knock 2p, or 2%, […]
Half-year results from Scottish Mortgage Trust (SMT) show the £12.5bn Baillie Gifford flagship has recorded its best period of recovery since the 2022 growth crash humbled its shares. In the six months to 30 September, the net asset value (NAV) of SMT’s investments rose 22.9%, beating the 15.4% gain in the FTSE All-World index with the half year neatly coinciding with a […]
Based on its weighting within the MSCI All Countries World Index, Japan is the world’s second-largest stock market after that of the US. However, for many decades it was a hard place to make money. Factors such as low to no economic growth, an ageing and shrinking workforce, deflation, zero interest rates, and poor corporate […]
From an AI bubble to Bitcoin exposure, the managers tackle the topics on shareholders’ minds and discuss their investment approach, market outlook and key portfolio decisions. Capital at risk.
International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) expressed its optimism for the future after emerging from a highly volatile year to 31 August with an underlying investment return of just 0.7%. Kate Cornish-Bowden, chair of the £267m investment trust, said the flat net asset value (NAV) result, which underpinned a 3.5% total shareholder return, belied a sharp fall […]
The £439m JPMorgan Global Emerging Markets Income Trust (JEMI) reported strong results for the year to 31 July with an underlying net asset value (NAV) total return of 14.1%, outperforming its MSCI Emerging Markets index benchmark, which returned 13.7% in sterling terms, and underpinned a total shareholder return of 16.8%. The trust stands on a […]
The worst fears around the wind-down of Hydrogen Capital Growth (HGEN) have begun to be realised after the collapse of Bramble Energy, one of the investment company’s largest holdings. In a statement after markets closed last night, HGEN said Bramble, a hydrogen fuel cell producer in which the company is a 12.5% shareholder, had appointed […]
Fidelity Special Values (FSV), the best performer in the admittedly small pool of UK All Companies investment trusts, underlined its supremacy today with annual results showing a 14.3% underlying investment return in the year to 31 August. Good blue chip stock picks and sector positioning in banks, tobacco and life insurers by Fidelity fund managers […]
NB Private Equity (NBPE), a £676m co-investor in unquoted companies in North America and Europe, attempted to generate some excitement over its shares today as it accelerated buybacks and laid out plans for at least $100m of new investments. With the shares standing on a wide 26% discount and yielding 4.8%, NBPE signalled its confidence in the portfolio of 71 companies by saying it was ready to expand the $120m, three-year share […]
Octopus Infrastructure (ORIT) and GCP Infrastructure (GCP) have sought to reassure investors about the “limited” potential impact of the government’s proposals to change the inflation measure used in legacy renewable obligation (RO) and feed-in-tariff (FIT) subsidies. ORIT, a £300m investment trust whose shares labour under a 42% discount to net asset value and offer an […]
HgCapital Trust (HGT), the £2.2bn private equity fund specialising in IT services, grew net asset value (NAV) by 2.4% in the third quarter with NAV per share of 550p at 30 September compared to the current 473.5p share price, putting the shares on a 14% discount. The share price slipped 2.7% in the period although […]
Busy activist hedge fund Saba Capital has expanded its investment company interests with a new 5% holding in RTW Biotech Opportunities (RTW). A stock exchange filing this afternoon shows the New York-based firm owns 2.3% of the £587m investment company through shares with the remaining 2.7% in derivatives, or total return swaps. This makes RTW […]
Government proposals to change the inflation link in existing clean energy incentives have intensified the gloom over the embattled renewables fund sector. Shares in listed renewable energy infrastructure funds slid this week before making a partial recovery after the Department of Net Zero and Energy Security launched a consultation last Friday on changes to the inflation indexation calculation used in the renewables obligation (RO) and feed-in-tariffs (FIT) schemes. […]
BlackRock Greater Europe (BRGE) risked an accusation of style drift today after it accepted the appointment of a new co-manager, Brian Hall, to bring in some “value” stock picking skills after its “growth” approach severely underperformed in its latest financial year. In the 12 months to 31 August the £556m investment trust’s net asset value dropped 6.1%, 17% behind the 10.9% gain in the FTSE World Europe […]
Bluefield Solar Income (BSIF) and its fund manager Bluefield Partners have put themselves up for sale after a majority of the investment company’s shareholders objected to a proposal floated last month for them to merge. The £414m renewables fund has launched a “coordinated” strategic review and formal sales process after shareholders stated their clear preference […]
International Public Partnerships (INPP), the FTSE 250 infrastructure investment company, has reached financial close on its £254.3m equity investment in the construction of Sizewell C, the first new UK nuclear plant to be procured under a regulated asset base model. As announced in July, the £2.3bn Amber Infrastructure managed company will invest £50m a year […]
Asset Value Investors (AVI) has reopened hostilities with Symphony International (SIHL), four years after the activist fund manager unsuccessfully sought to remove its board. In a new broadside, AVI accused the Asian private equity fund of pocketing $10m (£7.7m) in annual management fees while doing nothing to help investors stuck with shares languishing 60% below […]
Mobius (MMIT), the £167m emerging markets smaller companies investment trust, has suffered a setback after investors sold 43.1% of its shares in a three-yearly redemption facility. Valid redemption requests were received for over 49.7m shares by yesterday’s deadline, said the company, which was co-founded by pioneering emerging markets fund manager Mark Mobius seven years ago. […]
Chrysalis Investments (CHRY) is weighing proposals for its future after the growth capital fund found investors split on the investment company’s next step. A six-month consultation by investment bank Rothschild & Co with holders of 58% of Chrysalis shares found “widespread agreement” that the £613m pre-flotation, private equity fund holds attractive investments, such as Starling […]
Life Science REIT summmons shareholders to a meeting to approve its managed wind-down and Partners Group Private Equity reports a good gain in September. Life Science REIT (LABS) is calling shareholders to a general meeting in London on 24 November to approve a change in its investment policy in order for the company to begin […]
PRS REIT (PRSR) has finalised its takeover by Waypoint Asset Management on behalf of four UK local authority pension schemes. Shares in the family rental home provider jumped 2.7%, or 3p, to 114.4p this afternoon as the real estate investment trust announced it had secured essentially the same terms outlined by the two sides seven weeks ago, adjusted for changes in […]
A drop in the number of Chinese students has hit Empiric Student Property (ESP), 10 weeks after shareholders approved its £634m takeover by Unite (UTG). In a trading update, the student accommodation provider warned that since 9 September a slowdown in reservations across the university sector meant that just 89% of its rooms were booked for the current academic year, down from 95% last October, although it had seen […]
