News

RCM Technology’s figures, covering the year ended 30 November 2013, show the fund beating its benchmark by some margin. The total net asset value return for RTT was 47.2% over the year vs. 20.5% for the Dow Jones World Technology Index. On the back of this strong performance, the managers, led by Walter Price (pictured) have […]

Over the year ended 31 December 2013 RIT Capital Partners generated a total return on net assets of 18.6%. Its discount widened a little and so the return to shareholders was 14.0%. By contrast the return on the MSCI All Country World Index (after some fiddling around with currencies – they use 50% translated back […]

Over the course of 2013 JP Morgan Claverhouse generated a total net asset value return of 33.8% – well ahead of the return on the FTSE All-Share Index of 20.8%. The dividend was increased by 3.4% and, for the first time in five years, is now covered by revenue – an important leap forward for […]

Mithras posted a 12% increase in net assets over 2013 and its share price did even better, rising by 22%. £13m was returned to shareholders via two tender offers as the fund continued its strategy of winding down its portfolio. Amongst the cash flowing back to the company during the year were proceeds of exits […]

GCP Infrastructure is investing c£5m via an issue of notes from GCP Rooftop Solar 4 Ltd which will use the money to finance a portfolio of domestic rooftop solar panel installations in England.  The notes are for a 20 year term and yield 9.3%.  

Sebastian Luparia is stepping down as co-manager of JP Morgan Brazil to take up another role within JP Morgan. He will be replaced by Sophie Bosch de Hood (pictured) from JP Morgan’s Latin American team. Luis Carrillo is staying on as the other co-manager.

Starwood European Real Estate Finance is providing a €14.3m facility to enable the purchase of an office building in Amsterdam fully occupied by UPC Nederlands. They say the return on the facility will be ‘solid single digit’. With this deal,  SWEF has now made eight investments adding up to a total value of £168m or 72% of net […]

Over the year ended 31 December 2013 LMS capital’s net asset value rose from 85p to 88p. £35m was handed back to shareholders via a tender offer, funded by £44m of cash exits from portfolio positions.

Richard Plackett, manager of BlackRock Throgmorton, will take a six month sabbatical starting 1 April 2014. Ralph Cox (manager of BlackRock UK Smaller Companies fund) is taking over responsibility for the CFD portfolio

Foreign & Colonial Investment trust has released its results for the year ended 31 December 2013. In total return terms, the net asset value returned 21.4% vs. 21.0% for the FTSE All-World Index. At the same time F&C has announced that Jeremy Tigue is stepping down as manager of the fund at the end of […]

The Board of Scottish Mortgage, led by John Scott (pictured), has negotiated a reduction in the management fee from 0.32% to 0.3% on total assets less current liabilities.

Aurora Russia has sold its interest in OJSC Flexbank for RUR189.1m (£3.2m) gross = RUR172.2m (£2.9m) after expenses. At the same time mortgages held by Flexbank with a nominal value of £2.4m have been transferred to another Aurora Russia subsidiary, Kreditmart Finance Limited and these will be sold in due course (possibly at a discount […]

Qannas Investments Limited has announced that it has sold a 29,000 sq ft plot in the Reem Island project, off the coast of Abu Dhabi, for AED22.7m. The plot was bough for AED12.0m in May 2013. One pound = 6.14 UAE Dirhams so the profit on the deal is £1.74m

F&C UK Real Estate has sold two properties – Swift House, Cosford Lane, Rugby – an industrial property let to Premier Foods – and Unit 1, King George Close, Romford – an industrial property let to Crystal Windows and Doors. The Rugby property fetched £5.25m against a £5.3m end December 2013 valuation and the Romford […]

Harbourvest Senior Loans Europe has appointed Spire Partners LLP as sub-advisers to the fund and intends that they will replace Harbourvest as managers of the fund in due course. Spire (Jonathan Russell (pictured), Philip Bennett-Britton and Oliver Drummond Smith) are introducing themselves to shareholders and will be asking them whether they believe the fund’s investment […]

Today’s announcement from Target Healthcare REIT covers the period from its incorporation on 22 January 2013 to 31 December 2013. THRL’s net asset value finished the year at 95.9p; the share price then was 105p. Target owned ten care homes at the end of December and more acquisitions are planned or in progress. The initial […]

Ruffer failed to meet its objective of producing an absolute return of at least twice the Bank of England base rate in the second half of 2013 as its net asset value total return was -0.55% over the period. The report points to the strength of sterling, especially against the US dollar, as one factor behind this.

From the company’s launch on 11 June 2013 to the end of December 2013 the total return on net assets was 5.8% and shareholders have had a total return of 7%. An initial dividend of 2.25p has been declared (the target for the full year is 4.5p).

Jupiter Primadona’s interims covering the six months ended 31 December 2013 reveal that its net asset value rose by 10.3%, outperforming the FTSE All-Share which rose by 9.7%. The shares rose by 16.4% as the discount narrowed to less than 3% (shareholders will hope that the discount stays narrow following JPG’s earlier announcement). The manager’s […]

Pantheon International’s net asset value fell by 2.1% over the latter half of 2013 as Sterling strength offset a 5.7% positive underlying return on the fund’s investments. The share price slipped a little (by 1.3%). The portfolio threw off £93m of cash and Pantheon reinvested £79m of this

Candover’s net asset value rose by 18% to 715p over 2013. The fund’s holding in oilfield services company, Expro International, contributed most to this as its value was written up by £41m. This was offset to some extent by a £14.7m writedown in the value of Stork – which Candover are in the process of splitting […]

Intu Properties (which used to be known as Capital Shopping Centres) saw its earnings per share fall from 16.1p to 15p in 2013 as a number of tenants entered administration. Property valuations increased by 1.8%, however its net asset value fell from 392p to 380p . Intu has a £1.2bn, 2.6m sq ft, development pipeline £0.7bn of […]

The second half of 2013 was not kind to City Natural Resources whose net asset value fell  by 6.7% while its benchmark delivered a positive 3.1% return. CVYN’s discount widened and the share price total return was -8.3%. The managers’ report does not mention any stock specific reasons for the poor performance

Standard Life UK Smaller Companies interim report covering the second half of 2013 shows the fund underperforming its benchmark by some margin (NAV total return 17.6% vs. Numis Smaller Companies ex Investment Companies return of 21.0%). The share price did better than the NAV, returning 19.6%. The manager’s report ascribes the underperformance to lack of […]

Bluefield Solar Income’s first set of figures, covering the period from 29 May to 31 December 2013, has been released. Its net asset value at the end of December 2013 was 97.3p. It declared its first dividend of 2p per share on 19 February 2014 and the statement says it is on track to pay the […]

Japan Residential Investment Company is buying seven residential apartment buildings for YEN9.4bn  (£55.3m) at a small discount to a recent valuation. In all the properties contain 419 units and 15,077 sqm of leasable space and are expected to generate a yield of 5.2%

F&C UK Real Estate generated a total return to shareholders of 18.9% over the second half of 2013. The net asset value total return for the period was 11.0%, driven by a 6.6% increase in property values, and a rising premium made up the rest. Voids have risen a little but FRCE believes the letting market is good. […]

Alternative Asset Opportunities (which used to be known as US Traded Life Interests Fund) saw its net asset value fall from 48.5p to 45.9p over the six months ended 31 December 2013. The fall was largely the result of adverse exchange rate movements. The Board say that policy maturities during this period have been sufficient […]

Henderson Opportunities Trust has released its results for the year ended 31 October 2013. The fund did very well, generating a total net asset value return of 47.1% – more than twice the 22.8% return on the FTSE All-Share Index. The total return to shareholders was 71.0%. The report details the largest contributors to this […]

Sherborne Investors (Guernsey) B Limited has an interest of 10.2% in Electra – about half in ordinary shares and the rest through total return swaps. Although Sherborne, run by Edward Bramson (pictured) and known as activists, have acknowledged the stake they haven’t said what their agenda is in taking the stake.