Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies gives details of CULS conversion – Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies (AAS) has made announcements in January and February about converting its  3.5% convertible unsecured loan stock 2019 (2019 CULS). The company has announced further details in relation to the proposed restructuring of the 2019 CULS and the terms of a new class of convertible unsecured […]

Shire disposal leaves BB Healthcare stake in limbo Shire Pharmaceuticals’ announcement this morning of an agreement to sell its oncology business to Servier for $2.4bn in cash, leaves the stake in the company held by BB Healthcare Trust (BBH) – the only sector specialist investment trust to have significant exposure  – in limbo. This is because […]

New Fund Manager for Schroder UK Growth – The Board of Schroder UK Growth Fund (SDU) announced that it has terminated Schroder Unit Trusts Limited as its AIFM and has appoint Baillie Gifford & Co Limited as the company’s new manager, company secretary and administrator. The board says that the Company’s long-term investment performance is considerably […]

Share split for Mercantile – The board of Mercantile (MRC) are proposing a ten-for-one share split to help deal with the share price being so high. It makes investing in smaller amounts hard 2017 was a good year for the share price. Over the year to 31st January 2018, the Company produced a return on net assets of […]

BG-backed Orchard buys GSK rare disease portfolio Baillie Gifford-backed gene therapy company Orchard Therapeutics has acquired GlaxoSmithKline’s portfolio of investigational and approved rare disease gene therapies in exchange for a 19.9% equity stake as well as undisclosed milestones and royalties on sales. The acquired product portfolio includes Strimvelis, GSK’s EU-approved gene therapy for children with adenosine deaminase severe […]

Worldwide Health offers a way to play AACR lung data reveal London-listed Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) could be best way for trust investors to obtain exposure to what is likely to be the most important clinical data disclosure involving large cap pharmaceutical companies this year. This is set to occur next Monday (16 April) at the American Association […]

Hg announces investment in the Access Group – Hg, which maaged the Manager of HgCapital Trust (HGT) has announced today an investment in The Access Group. It is one of the UK’s leading providers of business management software to mid-market companies. HgCapital will invest approximately £30.9 million in Access, with other institutional clients of Hg investing alongside the […]

NB Global Floating Rate performs well in a difficult year – NB Global Floating Rate (NBLS) targets income generation whilst seeking to preserve investors’ capital and give protection against rising interest rates. The year to 31 December 2017 again proved to be eventful not just in geopolitical or macroeconomic terms.  United States and European senior secured floating […]

Underweight Chinese tech companies detract from Aberdeen Asian Income – Aberdeen Asian Income’s NAV returned 16.0% in sterling terms, compared to the MSCI All Countries Asia Pacific ex Japan Index, which returned 25.4%. The ordinary share price total return was 17.4% while the discount to NAV narrowed slightly to 7.5% at the year end. A […]

RDI £26m disposal in Leeds – RDI the UK real esrate investment trust (REIT) has  exchanged contracts for the disposal of City Point in Leeds for £26.05 million. The property, which has been acquired by West Midlands Pension Fund, delivers total gross annualised rental income of £1.6 million with a WAULT of 3.7 years. According to LDI […]

Standard Life Property Income completed disposal – Standard Life Investments Property Income Trust (SLIPIT) has completed the sale of a multi let office in Slough for £13.25m, 9.6% ahead of the end December valuation. In the release, the manger commented that the sale proceeds will be reinvested when suitable opportunities are available. The disposal is to realise […]

Industrial sector contributes to Standard Life Property Income’s performance – The portfolio total return of Standard Life Property Income (SLI) was 12.1% representing a significant margin over the benchmark return. This outperformance was driven by an above benchmark portfolio income return of 6.3% and a capital return of 5.5%. The capital return was achieved despite the drag […]

BB Biotech may have to take hit on Incyte stake Switzerland’s BB Biotech (BBB.S) looks set to be in for a difficult month in terms of performance as a result of the negative result reported in a Phase III trial of a drug from Incyte Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:INCY), which was the trust’s third largest holding accounting […]

Syncona sees slight dip in NAV as Nightstar declines UK hybrid biotech investor/fund-of-funds Syncona (SYNC) saw a 0.8% fall in its NAV in February according to its latest factsheet, principally as a result of an 8% decline in the value of its holding in US-listed Nightstar Therapeutics. Syncona holds a 42% stake in this Nasdaq-quoted, but UK […]

Highbridge Multi Strategy edges ahead in 2017 – Highbridge Multi Strategy Fund generated a return of 3.7% on its NAV over the course of 2017. The total return of the S&P 500 in 2017 was +21.8%. This might look like an unexciting return but it is consistent with returns earned by most other absolute return […]

NB Private Equity Partners dollar gains wiped out by sterling strength – The highlights from NB Private Equity’s results for 2017 are: 31 December 2017 Net Asset Value per share of $17.45 increased $1.54 from $15.91 at 31 December 2016. However, in sterling term the move translated to a 2p rise from GBP12.89 to GBP12.91 NAV total return of 13.2% NAV  increase […]

Investment Trust Insider on Supermarket Income REIT James Carthew: Supermarket Inc should go down main aisle Last summer Supermarket Income (SUPR) presented investors with a new alternative in their search for predictable, inflation-linked yields. Since then the real estate investment trust (Reit) has announced quarterly dividends of 1.375p, equating to a 5.5% yield on its […]

Juridica left with seven cases – During 2017, Juridica’s NAV per share dropped by US$0.0977 per share from US$0.2541 per share at 31 December 2016 to US$0.1563 per share at 31 December 2017.  mostly this relates to the payment of dividends amounting to US$11.9 million (US$0.1074 per share) but it also made a profit during 2017 of US$1.1 million (US$0.0097 per […]

Trust favourite Alnylam sees shares tank on competitor success US  RNAi therapeutic specialist Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ALNY) has seen its shares fall by 22% over the long Easter weekend, principally on news of a surprise positive clinical trial result for a potential competitor to its lead product patisiran, which has been developed initially for hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis […]

Above average number of natural disasters impact on Blue Capital –  the NAV of Blue Capital Alternative Income (BCAI) was hit by a higher than average occurrence of natural disasters during the year to 31 December 2017.  please see our note on Blue Capital Alternative Income published on 13 February entitled “Wind blown but still standing” Blue Capital Alternative […]

HBM Healthcare to benefit from Homology Medicines IPO Swiss-listed HBM Healthcare (HBMN) is set to receive a modest boost to its NAV following the US initial public offering last week of Homology Medicines (Nasdaq: FIXX), a US gene editing/gene therapy company developing treatments for rare disease.  Homology raised a total of $165.6m from an offering of 10.35m shares at $16.00 […]

WPCT gets surprise boost up trust leaguetable from Prothena deal An unexpected recovery in Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT)’s share price last month on the back of the collaboration signed between investee Prothena (NASDAQ:PRTA) and Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG), has made the struggling investment trust the surprise top performer among the sector specialist funds in March, albeit amid […]

3i Infrastructure makes investment in Attero – 3i Infrastructure will invest €201m to acquire a 50% stake in Attero, one of the largest waste treatment and disposal companies in the Netherlands. 3i Infrastructure will invest alongside DWS’s infrastructure investment business (formerly Deutsche Asset Management) to acquire Attero from Waterland, a Dutch private equity fund. 3i […]

‘Experienced. Disciplined. Determined. All you want from a hero.’ – Merchants Trust outperformed the All-Share, its benchmark index over the year to the end of January 2018. Its NAV total return was +14.5% with debt at market value, outperforming the benchmark total return of +11.3%. This investment return placed the company 6 out of 25 funds in […]

Fidelity Japanese Values delivered positive outperformance in its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2017, resulting in a NAV total return of +34.1%. The Russell Nomura Mid/Small Cap Index gained 17.5% in sterling terms over the same time period. The share price rose by 49.3% and as a result the discount  to NAV narrowed […]

Bias towards transparent companies behind Pacific Assets’ underperformance – Pacific Assets Trust (PAC) delivered an NAV per share total return of +12.8% in the year to 31 January 2018. It lagged the Benchmark MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan Index’s return of +27.0%. The average share price discount to the NAV per share during the year was 2.4% which […]

Solid absolute and relative returns for shareholders of Dunedin Income Growth – the NAV total return of 12.0% of Dunedin Income Growth (DIG) outperformed the total return of 11.3% from the FTSE All-Share Index. The chairman stated in the annual final report for the year to 31 January 2018 that this was driven by out-performance […]

Impax Environmental Markets investing firmly into the ecological zeitgeist- Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) has reported a strong year of performance, although the NAV of the company underperformed its environmental comparator index, the FTSE ET100,  follows the Company’s 15.4% outperformance in 2016 In its annual financial report for the year ended 31 December 2017, the company reported that accelerated earnings growth and continuing merger […]

Hg announces acquisition of German B2B fleet leasing company Mobility Concept – HgCapital Trust (HGT) has announced the acquisition of Mobility Concept GmbH, a leading B2B* fleet leasing company, headquartered in Germany. Hg has acquired Mobility Concept from Unicredit Leasing GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of UniCredit Bank AG (“HypoVereinsbank”) as well as from the founders. The closing of the […]