Warehouse REIT buys in Northampton and Aberdeen – Warehouse REIT has exchanged contracts to acquire a multi-unit estate in Northampton let to John Lewis and a multi-let industrial estate in Aberdeen. The assets were purchased in two separate transactions for a total consideration of GBP37 million, reflecting a blended net initial yield of 6.6%. In Northampton, […]

Polar Capital Technology amends fees – Polar Capital Technology’s board has decided to amend its management fee to reflect the growth of the fund, strong performance in both absolute and relative terms, and in light of the impact of MiFID II with regard to contributions to research costs. Going forward, the trust will no longer make […]

Green REIT up for sale – In a surprise move, Green REIT has joined the growing number of funds that have decided to give up and hand back cash to shareholders. The board of Green REIT has undertaken a comprehensive and carefully considered review of the strategic options open to the company to maximise value […]

ICG Enterprise conviction pays off – ICG Enterprise has published results for the year ended 31 January 2019. Highlights include: NAV per share of 1,057p – total return of 12.4% in the year, annual dividend of 22p Growth driven by strong profit growth and realisation uplifts 10th consecutive year of double digit underlying portfolio growth […]

Establishment Investment set to wind-up – Earlier in November 2018, we wrote about the potential wind up of Establishment Investment (ET), after the company’s board recommended shareholders vote to not continue the trust (click here to read more on this story). ET have announced today that their board received a number of proposals and, following […]

Yellow Cake closer to critical mass – Yellow Cake, the investor in physical uranium, has just announced that 12,000,000 new shares have been placed with existing and new institutional investors at a price of £2.15 per share. The company had been looking to raise $30m but had sufficient demand up to the issue size to £25.9m […]

Hipgnosis targets £100m share placing injection – On 1 April 2019, Hipgnosis (SONG) announced that it had, since IPO, acquired, or entered into exclusivity agreements to acquire, catalogues with a total value of £234.1m, that it had identified a number of further significant catalogues for potential acquisition and that it was contemplating an equity raise […]

Marble Point Loan Financing results reflect tough year for CLOs – Marble Point Loan Financing (MPLF) had a difficult year to December 31, 2018, as the downturn in the loan market in the fourth quarter of 2018 ate into NAV performance. The company invests in US loans directly and indirectly through investments in collateralised loan […]

North American Income delivers once more – North American Income (NAIT) had another good year (to January 31, 2019), outperforming its benchmark and delivering income growth, on the back of solid stock selection by its managers. Financial highlights Total return NAV per share rose by 4.8% on a total return basis in sterling terms. This […]

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%) […]

Syncona establishes retinal gene therapy platform – Syncona has announced the merger of two of its companies, Gyroscope Therapeutics (Gyroscope), an ophthalmology company developing genetically defined therapies for retinal diseases and Orbit Biomedical (Orbit), a specialist medical device company focused on precision sub-retinal therapeutic delivery. Syncona will own 82% of the enlarged company (a holding value […]

Ground Rents Income moves to Schroders – Ground Rents Income is moving its management contract from Brooks MacDonald to Schroder Real Estate Investment Management. The management team is going to move across as well. The announcement says that Brooks MacDonald is stepping back to focus on its core business. The board listed several reasons for […]

AEW UK Long Lease REIT considering future – The board of AEW UK Long Lease REIT served notice on its manager and announced a strategic review yesterday. “In view of the sub-scale size of the group, its performance since IPO, and the recent news in respect of Meridian Metal Trading Limited, the board is reviewing […]

Baker Steel plans tender offer – after a year when Baker Steel managed to generate a small NAV increase (0.2%) while the wider EMIX Global Mining Index fell by 5.9%, the trust has now announced it wants to hand back £4m/£5m to shareholders. The money comes from the sale of the Prognoz silver project to […]

Civitas updates on portfolio – Civitas Housing Advisors has published an update on the Civitas Social Housing portfolio and some commentary on the social housing sector. This follows the release of a report on the sector from the Regulator. Coincidentally, The Regulator has announced the findings of its review of Encircle Housing. At the end […]

Market responds favourably to EPE Special Opportunities results   – The private equity trust, EPE Special Opportunities (ESO), which invests in small and medium-sized companies in the UK mainly, has reported total return declines of 12.5% and 7.1% in its NAV and shares over the year to January 31, 2019. Investors have responded favourable to […]

External forces outmuscle fundamentals as Vietnam Enterprise delivers negative return – Vietnam Enterprise Investments (VEIL) delivered its first negative NAV return since 2011 in the year to December 31, 2018. Total return USD NAV shed 7.1%, which was 2.4% better than the VN Index benchmark. VEIL is managed by Dragon Capital, the largest independent asset […]

UK Mortgages completes £209m fourth securitisation – UK Mortgages (UKML) has announced the successful public sale of £209.15m senior securitised notes. The securitisation is backed by a pool of owner-occupied mortgages originated by The Mortgage Lender (TML) completed between October 2016 and today. It has been purchased by on a forward flow basis by UK […]

RDI REIT breaches LTV Aviva covenant – Following on from a trading update on February 28, 2019, where it was announced that RDI REIT (RDI) had breached a covenant in relation to its debt facility with Aviva (click here to read more on this story, including a QD comment), it has been announced today that […]

Hipgnosis buys six Shawn Mendes songs – Hipgnosis Songs (SONG) has bought a music catalogue of Teddy Geiger’s copyright interest in six global hit songs written for the multi-platinum selling, Canadian singer and artist Shawn Mendes. Shawn became the first artist to have four number 1 songs on the billboard adult Top 40 radio airplay […]

Mercantile Investment underperforms benchmark – The UK-focused £1.6bn market cap trust, Mercantile Investment (MRC), has reported an 8% decline in total return NAV for the year to January 31, 2019, underperforming its benchmark by 1.3%. The fund invests in medium-sized and smaller companies outside of the FTSE 100 index. Portfolio review Winners: Evraz, the producer […]

Woodford Patient Capital discount widens despite NAV growth – Woodford Patient Capital, which mainly invests in early-stage unquoteds, delivered an NAV return of 6.9% in 2018, with several of its more mature holdings potentially being able to seek a listing.  The shares performed less well as the discount increased by 8.4% to 15.9% at year-end. […]

Light China exposure helps Aberdeen Asian Income in 2018 – Following a difficult year for Asian stocks, it comes as little surprise that Aberdeen Asian Income (AAIF) has reported a single-digit decline in its NAV. Unlike in 2017, where the fund’s light exposure to China saw it miss out on the technology-fuelled buying spree, it […]

Funding Circle throws in the towel – in a surprise move, Funding Circle SME Income Fund has announced that it will wind up. “Following consultation with shareholders accounting for over two thirds of the register, the board hereby acknowledges their preference to cease investment in new credit assets and commence a process to return capital […]

Regulator issues report on social housing sector – The Regulator of Social Housing has published a report on ‘Lease-based providers of specialised supported housing’ – the sorts of registered providers that are the counterparties to leases provided by Civitas Social Housing and Triple Point Social Housing REIT. You can read the report here Civitas had this […]

Key AEW UK Long Lease REIT tenant enters administration – It has been announced today that AEW UK Long Lease REIT’s (AEWL) largest tenant by rental income, Meridian Metal Trading (Meridian), has fallen into administration.  Meridian occupies two industrial assets within the AEWL portfolio located in Dudley, West Midlands and Sheffield. The annual passing rental […]

Difficult year for high yield funds like City Merchants – High yield investors like City Merchants High Yield (CMHY) operated in choppy waters over the second half of 2018 as investors went on the defensive. Spreads between high yield and investment grade bonds widened and, by association, prices on these securities fell. The company’s NAV […]

Gresham House Strategic delivers 20.4%  return to shareholders – Gresham House Strategic (GHS) uses a more involved private equity style of investing to take positions (no more than 10-15) in mainly UK-based small-cap stocks (it can also invest upto 30% in unquoteds). GHS has been one of the best performing small-cap funds over the three […]

Globalworth Real Estate announces €170m Poland deals – In a further sign of strength in the Polish economy, Globalworth Real Estate (GWI) has completed two deals in Poland, which were identified, for a combined €169.9m. The deals are being carried out by GWI’s Polish subsidiary. Key takeaways from the two deals: Warsaw trade tower Acquired […]