NextEnergy hit by falling power price – NextEnergy Solar Fund says that, over the year ended 31 March 2020, its NAV fell from 110.9p to 99.0p. This translated into an NAV total return of -4.6%, which, when combined with a fall in the premium, left shareholders with a return of -7.8%. NextEnergy met its dividend target […]

Syncona’s Freeline may IPO – Freeline Therapeutics says that it raised a total of $120m from investors in its Series C fundraising. $40m of this came from Syncona (in December 2019). Syncona has written up the value of its investment to reflect the pricing of the fundraise. Its 60% stake in Freeline is now valued at […]

Miton UK MicroCap (MINI), the tech and healthcare-focused (around half of the portfolio) UK smaller companies-sector company, has reported annual results for the year ended 30 April 2020. Over the year, total NAV returns fell by (8.2%), while the shares were down by (20.%).  MINI noted that, over the same period, the FTSE SmallCap index (excluding […]

Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF) announced that it had secured a further 131MW portfolio under exclusivity, including 81MW of cash generating operational assets. The operational assets, have an anticipated closing of mid-August, subject to the completion of due diligence. The 131MW portfolio of assets under exclusivity announced today is in addition to the 20MW London asset […]

Why I should get off the fence and pay up for Gore Street Energy Storage by QuotedData’s James Carthew. This week, I caught up with the manager of Gore Street Energy Storage, which gave me the opportunity to pose some of the questions I raised in last weeks’ news show about the future of the […]

Empiric Student Property, the owner and operator of student accommodation across the UK, has appointed a new chief executive. It has hired Ten Entertainment Group’s current chief executive Duncan Garrood to the role. As well as Ten Entertainment Group, which is the UK’s second largest operator of family entertainment centres, Garrood has also held the […]

Shopping centre owner Intu is set to call in administrators after last gasp rescue talks with creditors collapsed. In a statement to the London Stock Exchange this morning the group said there had been “insufficient alignment and agreement” on standstill agreements with creditors. The group added: “The board is therefore considering the position of Intu […]

In QuotedData’s morning briefing 26 June 2020 The managers of Ediston Property Investment Company bought 276,971 shares at 50p per share on 23 June, to take their holding to 1.5m shares. 50p is a 47.1% discount to the last published NAV but that will probably be falling as a result of COVID-19. Manchester and London used […]

Student accommodation specialist Unite has raised £300m in an equity raise. A total of 34,482,759 new ordinary shares were placed at a price of 870 pence per share, representing a discount of 3.1% to the closing price on 24 June 2020 of 897.5 pence. Concurrently with the placing, certain directors of the company subscribed for an aggregate of […]

Harworth Group has acquired a Midlands industrial estate for £10.1m. The property developer and investor said the buy was in line with its strategy to grow its recurring income base through the acquisition of high yielding assets with further asset management potential. It has bought the estate, located close to both Dudley and Stourbridge town centres […]

BlackRock Smaller Companies reports on strong year – Over the year ended 29 February 2020, BlackRock Smaller Companies reported a 14.1% return on NAV and a 14.0% return to shareholders, both of which compare favourably with a 1.4% return on the trust’s benchmark, the Numis Smaller Companies plus AIM (excluding Investment Companies) Index. The dividend was increased […]

LondonMetric Property has acquired five Waitrose supermarkets and an urban logistics facility let to Ocado for a total of £72.9m. It has purchased the supermarkets from Waitrose in a sale-and-leaseback deal for £62m. Waitrose has signed new 20-year leases linked to CPIH. They are located in Keynsham, Malmesbury, Paddock Wood, Towcester and Yateley and range in […]

Brazilian exposure depresses Hansa’s returns – Hansa Investment Company has published its first set of results since redomiciling to Bermuda in August 2019 ( “as a result of increasing concerns over the political climate in the UK and the instability and uncertainty this created for Hansa Trust“). It was not a great year for Hansa shareholders. […]

Sequoia NAV fall hopefully temporary – Over the year ended 31 March 2020, Sequoia Economic Infrastructure produced a return on NAV of -0.9% (as its NAV fell from 103.41p to 96.69p) and saw its share price fall from 113p to 94p. At 31 March 2020 credit markets were in turmoil. Since the end of the company’s […]

St Modwen Properties has revealed positive trading performance in its logistics portfolio during lockdown. The company, which is focused on developments in the logistics and residential property sectors, said leasing activity during lockdown had been strong. Of its completed logistics developments 74% are now let or under offer, compared to 58% in February 2020, while […]

Schroder European REIT (SERE) halves quarterly dividend due to uncertainty caused by covid-19. The group declared a quarterly dividend of 0.925 euro cents for the period 1 January to 31 March 2020, which equates to 50% of its target dividend level. It brings total dividends declared for the six months to 31 March 2020 to […]

HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HVPE) announced results for the year ended 31 January 2020. NAV per share increase of 14.5% to $27.6 over the 12 months. The company was a net investor over the year, with $324.2m cash invested, compared with distributions of $308.2m. HVPE committed  $570m over the year, to new HarbourVest funds, with the majority weighted towards primary […]

SDCL Energy Efficiency Income (SEIT) announced that after seeing the strong support given to the initial issue of new ordinary shares, announced on 18 June, the issue size has been increased from £60m to £110m. Augmentum Fintech (AUGM) announced that portfolio company, Zopa, has been awarded its full banking licence by the Prudential Regulatory Authority. […]

AEW UK REIT has posted a 5.6% fall in net asset value (NAV) per share in full year results to March 2020. NAV fell to 93.13p per share, from 98.61p last year. The decrease was driven by a 4.2% fall in its property portfolio to £189.3m (2019: 197.61m) due to material uncertainty caused by covid-19. […]

Custodian REIT has said the covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted its portfolio, with a 2.2% valuation fall in the final quarter of the year alone. In full year results to the end of March 2020, the group posted a total portfolio valuation fall of 2.3% in the year to £559.8m (2019: £572.7m). Net asset value […]

Picton Property reported a rise in the value of its portfolio of 1.4% in full year results to the end of March 2020. The company’s portfolio was valued at £665m, down from £685m in March 2019 after two asset disposals, but up 1.4% on a like-for-like basis. The valuation increase is in despite of material […]

In QuotedData’s morning briefing 23 June 2020: Shopping centre investor, intu has warned that, if it cannot reach a standstill agreement with its creditors, some of its shopping centres may have to close for a while. intu says that, at this stage, it is not expected that the duration of a standstill agreement will exceed […]

Gresham House Strategic extends run of outperformance – Gresham House Strategic beat its benchmark by 10.5% over the year ended 31 March 2020. its NAV total return was -14.3% against -24.8% for the Small Cap ex Investment Companies Index. A narrowing of the discount from 22.6% to 15.0% meant that the return to shareholders was even […]

Performance figures over BMO Global Smaller Companies’s (BGSC) annual results period to 30 April 2020 reflected the sharp fall in prices over March. A total NAV return of (13.8%) was slightly ahead of the benchmark’s (14.1%), while the shares were down (16.5%) – they have increased by about 6% post-period. BGSC’s portfolio was geographically allocated as […]

BioPharma Credit (BPCR), the specialist life sciences debt investor, has announced that its discount control mechanism has been activated. The company will be required to purchase shares in the market as a result of the shares trading in excess of a 5% discount to NAV over a three-month rolling period, using the methodology described in the company’s […]

FastForward Innovations (FFWD) has announced that investee company, Factom, has filed for has filed for a Chapter 11 reorganisation. Factom is a blockchain-focused company, which FFWD invested into in 2018. FFWD notes that such a re-organisation includes an application for the ‘writing off’ of various debts of Factom, including FFWD’s $6m SAFE note. FFWD’s interest in Factom is divided […]

Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF) has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire 100% interest in Ferrymuir Energy Storage, a 50MW energy storage project. Project takes GSF’s total portfolio size to 239MW The project has been acquired from a group of investors comprising Abbey Properties, Yoogen and Intelligent Land Investments, consists of a 50MW […]

ICG Enterprise (ICGT) announced that PAI Partners had reached an agreement to sell Roompot, an operator and developer of holiday parks in Northern Europe, to KKR, for an undisclosed sum. PAI Partners is one one of Europe’s leading private equity managers. Roompot, is the ICGT’s 6th largest investment, representing 2.1% of the portfolio at 30 April 2020. […]