News

The Directors of GCP Student Living plc have announced that the Group has taken advantage of a rare opportunity to acquire a large scale, modern, purpose-built private student residential accommodation forward-funded development in London. The Directors believe that London retains a unique supply-demand imbalance for private student residential accommodation in the UK, with a shortage […]

intu properties announces that it has exchanged contracts with the Queensland Investment Corporation (“QIC”) to acquire the remaining 50 per cent of the Merry Hill estate for GBP410 million before expenses. This represents an income yield of 5.2 per cent, based on net rental income of GBP43 million. The estate comprises the intu Merry Hill […]

Funding Circle SME Income Fund Limited has announced that the company has now entered into a formal agreement with Funding Circle Limited and the European Investment Bank (“EIB”). The EIB will provide a GBP100 million loan to advance credit to UK SME loans via the Funding Circle marketplace. The Company will contribute GBP25 million to the […]

Hammerson plc ) has exchanged contracts and completed the sale of Thurrock Shopping Park, Essex, to TH Real Estate for GBP93 million. The park comprises two retail schemes with net internal area of 25,500m(2) and is situated next to junction 31 of the M25. Tenants include M&S, Gap, Pets at Home, Decathlon, Boots, Evans Cycles […]

Dunedin Smaller Companies has published its interim accounts. The company’s net asset value total return for the six month ended 30 April 2016 saw a small increase of 0.7%. This compares to a marginally higher total return of 1.3% from the benchmark index, the FTSE Small Cap Index (excluding investment companies). They say, although markets […]

The Board of Electra Private Equity PLC has announced the resignations of Dame Kate Barker and Francesca Barnes from the Board of Directors with immediate effect. Dame Kate joined the Board in 2010 and was Chairman of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee and Senior Independent Director. She served as interim Chairman from November 2015 until Neil […]

Invesco Income Growth outperformed the FTSE All-Share Index over the year to the end of March 2016, returning -2.6% against -3.9% for he Index. The discount widened however (from 5.3% to 11. 5%) and so the return to shareholders was -7.8%. The full year dividend was upped from 10.1p to 10.3p. The manager says that […]

Bankers Investment Trust returned 0.4% over the six months to the end of April 2016, slightly better than the zero return posted by the FTSE All-Share Index. The return to shareholders was -3.8% however as the discount widened to 5.9%. The interim dividend was increased from 7.8p to 8.0p. There is no manager’s statement in […]

John Laing Environmental Assets has published results for the year ended 31 March 2016. Over the 12 month period to 31 March 2016 shareholders have seen a share price total return of –2.5% whilst over the same period the NAV total return per share was +3.1%. The discrepancy is largely due to the reduction in […]

Real Estate Credit Investments recorded net profit of GBP8.5 million and NAV total return of 7.2% over the year to the end of March 2016. The dividend has been maintained at 10.8p. During the year, RECI made four new loans with commitments of GBP17 million. Since 31 March 2016 RECI has invested a further GBP4.3m […]

Alpha Real Trust’s results for the year ended 31 March 2016 show its NAV climbing from 113.2p to 137.9p (up 21.8%), a small fall in adjusted earnings per share from 7.5p to 7.0p and an increase in the dividend from 2.1p to 2.4p. In September 2015 Alpha Real Trust acquired 20.5% of the share capital and […]

Terra Capital has, belatedly, published results for the year ended 31 December 2015. Its year end net asset value per share stood at $0.925 against $0.979 for 2014. This represents a decrease for the year of 5.5% and a net decrease of 1.7% for the year allowing for the dividend of 3.72 cents per share paid […]

Over the six months to the end of April 2016, Henderson Diversified Income achieved a return on net assets of 2.4% and a return to shareholders of 1.3%. this compares to a return on the company’s benchmark, the total return over three month sterling Libor plus 2.00%, of 1.3%. A first interim dividend of 1.25p […]

CC Japan Income & Growth Trust has published inaugural results covering the period from its launch on 15 December 2015 to the end of April 2016. At the end of April the NAV was 103.92p and the share price 107.25p. On a total return basis the fund had outperformed the Topix Index, returning 3.9% against […]

HgCapital, the Manager of HgCapital Trust plc, has announced that it has agreed the sale of Mainio Vire, a leading provider of elderly care, mental health and home services in Finland, to Mehiläinen, a private provider of social and health care services also based in Finland. Completion is subject to regulatory approval. Based on the […]

In response to media comment, intu confirms that it is in advanced discussions with QIC regarding the potential acquisition of QIC’s 50 per cent interest in intu Merry Hill in the West Midlands. If the acquisition were to proceed, the consideration is likely to be around GBP410 million and would be funded through a combination […]

Seneca Global Income & Growth Trust has announced that it has submitted a blocklisting application for 3,989,636 new ordinary shares (10% of the trust’s existing share capital). The trust says that block listing will be used for the purposes of operating its discount (and premium) control mechanism policy, details of which were announced on 10 […]

Safestore’s EPRA NAV rose by 18.8% over the six months ended 30 April 2016 and the interim dividend was raised by 20% to 3.6p. Underlying, like-for-like EBITDA rose by 12.7% to £29.3m as occupancy rose by 2% to 70.9% and average storage rates rose by 4.7% to £26.02. Safestore has delivered a strong financial performance […]

City Merchants High Yield Trust has announced that Rhys Davies (pictured) has been promoted to portfolio manager with effect from 14 June 2016. Rhys has been deputy portfolio manager of the trust since 2 June 2014, having joined Invesco in 2002. He will co-manage the trust’s portfolio alongside Paul Causer and Paul Read. Invesco’s Rhys […]

Aurora Investment Trust has published its first annual report since the management of the company was passed to Phoenix Asset Management. The report covers the year ended 29 February 2016 – Phoenix took up the reins on 28 January 2016 so most of the performance of the fund over this period is attributable to the […]

Starwood European Real Estate Finance has announced that it has committed to a €31.2m five year floating rate whole loan to support the acquisition of a portfolio of fully let prime logistics assets in Dublin. The Loan has an initial drawdown of €17.6m with the remaining €13.6m to be advanced in conjunction with the deferred […]

New India Investment Trust has announced its annual results for the year ended 31 March 2016. During the year the trust provided an NAV total return of -6.1% and, reflecting a widening of the discount during the period (from 8.7% to 13.5%), a share price total return of -11.0% (all in sterling terms). This compares […]

SEGRO has announced that it has transferred a portfolio big box warehouses and development land into its SELP joint Venture (SELP or the SEGRO European Logistics Partnership is a 50:50 joint venture between SEGRO and a Canadian Pension Fund) for €89.4m. SEGRO’s strategy is to hold Continental European big box warehouses and development land primarily […]

MNG Gold, a privately-owned Turkish gold exploration and development company focused on West Africa and Turkey, is to invest US$30 million in Aureus Mining to achieve a 55% interest in the company. The agreed price of 3.21p per share represents a premium of 22% to the closing price on AIM on 14 June. The funds […]

Sequoia Economic Infrastructure has published its first set of accounts since its initial IPO – covering the period from incorporation on 30 December 2014, through its initial flotation on 3 March 2015 through to the end of March 2016. The company’s NAV rose moderately from 98.0p per ordinary share to 98.2p. Since the IPO and […]

Electra Private Equity has announced that its board has decided to cancel its existing £275m multi-currency revolving credit facility. The trust says that the facility is currently undrawn and therefore no repayment is required as a result of the cancellation. This follows the trust’s announcement, on 26 May 2016, that its board has served its […]

BlackRock Income Strategies says the six months to 31 March proved to be a challenging period for it and its resulting investment performance has been disappointing. The NAV fell by 0.9% over the period under review and the share price fell by 4.8%. Since the period end, the Company’s cum income NAV (with debt at fair value) […]

Vietnam Infrastructure Limited has announced that it is divesting its entire stake in the Vina-CPK Limited Company (“Vina-CPK”). The company is located in Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, and operates industrial park and infrastructure projects with an investment license of up to 49 years which was acquired by VNI in 2009. VNI will dispose of its entire […]

Following consultation with major shareholders, the Board of Aberdeen Frontier Markets Investment Company Limited (the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it intends to commence making half yearly distributions by way of a dividend. It is currently anticipated that a maiden dividend will be declared in respect of the six month period ending 30 June […]