CQS Natural Resources Growth & Income’s strong precious metals weighting a silver lining – The year to 30 June 2019 was challenging for CQS Natural Resources Growth & Income (CYN). At the financial year-end, the NAV was down 13.9% year-on-year. The company says that since the end-of-the-period, it has outperformed peers, with its exposure to precious metals […]

Neil Woodford no longer manager of Woodford Equity Income: Woodford Patient Capital (WPCT) released the following statement: “The board of WPCT notes the statement by Link Fund Solutions Limited, the Authorised Corporate Director of the LF Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF), that: (i) the decision has been taken by LFS not to re-open WEIF and instead […]

Scottish Oriental held back by India over the past year – Over Scottish Oriental Scottish Oriental’s (SST) year to 31 August 2019, the trust says that its comparatively large exposure to India held back performance. They remain optimistic about their allocation to India though. SST’s total return NAV per share increased by 1.1% over the […]

Fidelity Asian Values premium rises over strong year – Fidelity Asian Values (FAS) has reported annual results to 31 July 2019, including the following: FAS’s share price rose 12.3%; NAV increased by 8.2%, versus the 3.9% benchmark index; An increased allocation to non-banking finance companies in India supported strong returns; Out of favour small companies presented […]

Industrial and logistics investor LondonMetric Property has made the first disposal from the Mucklow portfolio it acquired earlier this year for £415m. It has sold an office in Leicester for £5.9m, reflecting a net initial yield of 6%. The 21,000 sq ft office is let for a further nine years to My Home Move. The sale […]

Aberdeen New Thai stock selection and currency drive interim 14.6% NAV return – Aberdeen New Thai (ANW) Thai equities and enjoyed a positive half year to the end of August 2019 with particular gains for Sterling investors. The Stock Exchange of Thailand Index (SET Index) rose by 15.2% on a sterling-adjusted total return basis as the […]

Urban Logistics REIT portfolio value up 3.8% over interim period – The Property – UK Commercial sector company, Urban Logistics REIT (SHED), has provided a trading update following the end of its interim period to 30 September 2019. In advance of reporting half-year results on 14 November, SHED has said: Portfolio valuation up 3.8% to […]

CIO Peter Elston resigns from Seneca Investment Managers – The board of Seneca Global Income & Growth (SIGT) has announced that Peter Elston has resigned from the investment manager, Seneca Investment Mangers Ltd (SIML), for personal reasons and will leave at the end of the year. The board said the following: “The board is grateful to […]

SDCL Energy Efficiency Income targets more capital to fund growth – The board of SDCL Energy Efficiency Income (SEIT) has announced a proposed placing of new ordinary shares under its existing share issuance programme to institutional investors at a price of 103 pence per share. In addition, the company today announced that the unaudited estimated NAV as […]

3i Infrastructure placing raises £222.8m – 3i Infrastructure (3IN) has raised gross proceeds of around £222.8m in a share placing that represents approximately 9.9% of the company’s issued ordinary share capital prior to the placing. 3IN say the issue was substantially oversubscribed and that it represents a discount of approximately 7.6% to the share price immediately prior […]

Globalworth Real Estate raises €264.3m – Globalworth Real Estate Investors (GWI), a leading investor in office space across Central and Eastern Europe, has announced the issue of €264.3m of additional equity capital following the completion of a placing. The placing shares being issued represent around 14.7% of the existing issued ordinary share capital of the company […]

Baillie Gifford wins European Trust – The board of The European Investment Trust has entered into heads of terms to appoint Baillie Gifford & Co Limited as the company’s new AIFM, company secretary and administrator. The company has given notice to terminate the appointment of Edinburgh Partners. The decision came after an extended run of poor […]

Jupiter US Smaller extends run of outperformance – Jupiter US Smaller Companies reports that its NAV increased by 4.5% in the twelve months to 30 June 2019. This compares to a fall of 1.1% for the benchmark, the sterling adjusted Russell 2000 Index. Since Robert Siddles was appointed as fund manager on 1 January 2001, the […]

LXi REIT has made a trio of acquisitions for a total of £23m, as it puts its recently announced revolving credit facility (RCF) to work. All three properties are long-let and index-linked and reflect a weighted average net initial yield of 5.7%. The company is also close to agreeing deals for further acquisitions that would see […]

Regional REIT has announced a number of lettings across its portfolio, in aggregate 10.9% ahead of expected rental value (ERV). The deals comprise: Juniper Park, Basildon: lease renewal to Vanguard Logistics Services for five years with Vanguard having the option to extend beyond this. Headline rent of £370,000 a year, representing an uplift of 15.4% to […]

Vietnam Holding focused on the future – after a difficult period for performance and one of considerable upheaval for the company, Vietnam Holding is focused on building a portfolio of growing Vietnamese companies with strong ESG (environmental, social and governance) aspects. Over the year ended 30 June 2019, Vietnam Holding delivered a negative return of 11.17%, […]

Rare underperformance from Baillie Gifford Japan – over the year to 31 August 2019, The Baillie Gifford Japan Trust net asset value total return fell by 5.3% compared to the 0.5% fall in the benchmark TOPIX index total return (in sterling terms). In this period the company’s share price total return fell by 7.4%. Nevertheless, […]

Pre-results update from SQN Secured Income – Ahead of the release of their annual financial reprot, SQN Secured Income (SSIF) have released an investment update presentation. Highlights: Direct loans represent 67.32% of the portfolio and have a gross yield of 10.9% Third party debt now represents 28.2% of total assets Peer to peer lending is […]

CQS New City High Yield’s premium and dividend rise as high yield corporate bond market recovers – We have annual results from CQS New City High Yield (NCYF) this morning, covering the 12m period to 30 June 2019. The ‘Debt – Loans and Bonds’ sector company with a global mandate delivered an NAV total return […]

Schroder Real Estate refinances debt and increases dividend – Schroder Real Estate (SREI) has this morning announced a refinancing of its debt and an increase in the dividend paid out to shareholders. Highlights from the announcement include: £129.6m fixed rate loan with Canada Life Investments extended from 8.5 to average 16.5 years; Reduction in the total […]

Manager’s stock picks deliver for Henderson Euro Trust – Henderson Euro Trust (HNE) delivered an NAV total return of 6.6% over the year to 30 July 2019. This was 1.9% ahead of its benchmark (FTSE World Europe (ex UK)) in sterling terms. Chairman, Nicola Ralston, said: “The portfolio we hold at the moment is relatively concentrated, with […]

Student accommodation specialist Unite Group has sold two properties in Coventry to a Singaporean investor for £96m. The two assets, Callice Court and Millennium View, comprise a total of 1,127 beds and have been sold to Mapletree Investments. The transaction price is in line with book value and Unite said it would recycle the capital […]

Something has to change at Jupiter UK Growth – During the twelve months to 30 June 2019 the total return on the net asset value of the company’s shares was -11.9% and, as the discount widened, the share price return was -15.4%. This compares with the total return on the company’s benchmark, the All-Share Index, of […]