Second half brings down Baring Emerging returns-  Baring Emerging Europe (BEE) reported a NAV per ordinary share of -2.57% for 2018 while the benchmark (MSCI Emerging Europe 10/40 Index)  went up 1.62% on the year. After a strong first half of the year Baring Emerging Europe was brought down by turbulent economic situations. The manager […]

Shift to global helps Manchester and London outperform- Manchester and London (MNL) has reported an NAV total return per share of 26.9% (2017’s NAV return was 22.3%). This compares well with the benchmark, which is the MSCI UK Investable Market Index, which posted a NAV of 9.23%. Manchester and London has beaten its benchmark over […]

CATCo expecting large losses after California Fires – CATco Investment Management Ltd (CAT) is expecting large losses after the recent early November wildfires in California, specifically the Camp Fire and Woolsey fires. These fires are the most destructive in California’s history. the early estimates are predicting potential losses due to the fires in the portfolio […]

Intu Properties updates on possible takeover- Intu Properties (INTU) announced that there is currently a consortium of companies that are currently in the process of trying to put a cash offer together for Intu. The consortium consists of the Peel Group, the Olayan Group, and Brookfield Property Group. The independent committee formed by Intu decided […]

Schroder Oriental reports marginal underperformance-  Schroder Oriental Income Fund (SOI) reported a net asset value return of 1.5% for the year, while the index reported a return of 1.8%. The dividend for the year did go up from 8.80p in 2017 to 9.40p in 2018 which represents a yield of 3.8% on the share price […]

BlackRock Emerging Europe announces rollover option- BlackRock Emerging Europe (BEEP) announces a rollover option to new C shares to be issued by BlackRock Frontier Investment Trust plc. The rollover option will consist of 11,286,143 ordinary shares. There is also a cash option that is being offered as part of the liquidation that was previously reported […]

Gore Street Energy Storage reports contracts secured- Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF) has announced that they have secured a Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract for their two most recent UK energy storage projects. The provider is NEC Energy Solutions with support from Nippon Koei-strategic partners and cornerstone investors. As previously announced (read more here) the […]

Tritax Eurobox buys another facility in Hannover- Tritax Eurobox (EBOX/BOXE) has exchanged contracts to provided forward funding for a new development of a new cold store and primary distribution facility at Wunstorf, near Hannover Germany. The contract is conditional on receiving the building permit. The development represents an investment of €27.5 million, which gives a […]

Establishment Investment Trust to wind up?-  Establishment Investment Trust board after a poor performance recently has decided that the best option is to not vote to continue the trust. In October the share price fell 5.6%. The manager says that, during the month of October, the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index declined 8.8%, the […]

Aberdeen Standard Equity Income Trust just missed the benchmark for the year- Aberdeen Standard Equity Income Trust (ASEI)  says its net asset value return was 5.5% which just missed the benchmark which was 5.9%. Earnings per share were 22.06p which is up 14.7% compared to last year’s figure of 19.23p. Dividends for the first three […]

Vinaland sells Green Park Estate, Vietnam Opportunity Fund sells alongside. VNL will return cash to shareholders VinaLand Limited is selling its stake in the Green Park Estate project, located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The project consists of a total land area of approximately 15.7ha and was acquired by VNL in 2007, with the […]

Aberdeen Standard European Logistics buys Dutch warehouses in Zeewolde and Waddinxveen, revises gearing target Zeewolde Aberdeen Standard European Logistics has exchanged contracts to acquire a newly built pre-let warehouse in Zeewolde, the Netherlands, for a purchase price of EUR29.25 million providing a net initial yield of 5.0%. The agreement with developer Borghese, a developer of logistics, […]

ECJ ruling hits battery storage funds – Gore Street Energy Storage and Gresham House Energy Storage comment on ruling The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the UK’s capacity market mechanism (which enables generators and battery projects to bid for contracts to provide back-up power to the grid during times of peak demand) […]

Woodford Patient Capital updates on three investments – has released some news on Immunocore, Mission Therapeutics and Spin Memory. Immunocore Immunocore has entered into a new partnership with Genentech, part of the Roche Group, to expand an existing discovery collaboration. As part of the agreement, Genentech will pay Immunocore $100 million in upfront and near-term […]

European Assets Trust is redomiciling to the UK- European Assets Trust (EAT) is expected to move their legal domicile from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom. There will not be any difference in the investment policy or dividend policy and the investment team will not change. European Assets Trust has also set up a subsidiary […]

Capital Gearing Trust net asset value is up 5.3% – Capital Gearing Trust (CGT) is up 5.3% since its year end and is up 2.8% since this time last year. The performance since year end on 5 April 2018 is being driven by a weakening sterling compared to the dollar. Around 47% of the portfolio […]

Manager resigns at Ranger Direct Lending- Ranger Direct Lending (RDL) today has announced that the manager will resign on 12 February 2019. The manager announced its resignation following the publication of the decision to change Ranger’s investment strategy. The voting on the new investment strategy will take place at the extraordinary general meeting on 16 […]

JPMorgan Japanese outperforms the benchmark for the year-  JPMorgan Japanese had a return on net assets of 26.8%, which outperformed the benchmark by 14.2%. JPMorgan Japanese on 26th March 2018 reached a market capitalisation of £712.7 million which was sufficient enough for it to become a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index on 31st March […]

LXi REIT has made six new property acquisitions- LXi REIT has purchased six new properties with total consideration of £62.4 million (excluding costs). This has the companies £175 million equity raise on 12 October 2018 fully deployed. All six properties are 100% linked to the retail price index. The weighted average unexpired lease terms to […]

British Empire focuses on extracting value from portfolio – British Empire says that, for the year ended 30 September 2018, it generated a net asset value total return of 10.0%, 4.8 percentage points higher than the return of the benchmark, the MSCI All Country World ex-US Index.The total dividend for the year will be 13p, up […]

Hugh Young to be named manager of Aberdeen Asian Smaller (which will also change its name) – Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies reports that, over the year to 31 July 2018, its net asset value rose by 4.6% in sterling total return terms, underperforming its benchmark by 2%. The underperformance happened in the first half of the […]

Regulator verdict on Trinity Housing – Following on from our story of 3 October, The Regulator for Social Housing has passed a regulatory judgement on Trinity Housing Association. Its conclusion on governance and viability is: G3 (Non-compliant) The provider does not meet our governance requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern and in agreement […]

Hg Capital Trust sells Atlas- Hg Capital Trust (HGT) has agreed to sell Atlas to Mintra Group. Atlas is a specialist Learning Technology Services Business which offers learning solutions to safety critical industries. Atlas has served standard bodies, regulators, and more than 1,700 corporate customers. They have 1,000+ learning courses in 110+ countries and they […]

Standard Life Investments Property Income buys in Birmingham- Standard Life Investments Property (SLI) has recently purchased  multi let office for £23.75 million with an initial yield of 7.6%. The building is 140,960 sqft and is located on Hagley Road in Birmingham. The building is located 1 mile from Birmingham city centre. With major infrastructure projects […]

Schroder Income Growth continues to increase dividends- Schroder Income Growth Fund (SCF) has raised dividends by 5.4%, with total distribution of 11.8 pence per share. This was twice that of the 2.7% that was achieved by the Consumer Prices Index over the same period. This is in line with the objective of the Schroder income […]

Growth better than Income for JPMorgan Elect- JPMorgan Elect has released its annual report for the year ending 31st August 2018. The Managed Growth portfolio delivered a total return on net asset value of 13.6% which outperformed the benchmark which returned 8.1% an out performance of the benchmark by 5.5%. For the year end 31st […]

Urban Logistics buys site in Bedford- The site was purchased from 3M Products Limited for total consideration of £17.1 million. The property is located at Hudson Road, Bedford. The land consists of a development site and a building with a total of 20.1 million acres of land. The building is 183,883 sq ft and is […]

JZ Capital announces tender offer–  JZ Capital has announced that they will be buying back 50 million dollars of their own shares and then cancelling them. They will be buying them back  at a price no wider than a 5 per cent of NAV (current NAV per share is $9.82). The proposed offer is still […]