Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Companies, which has long been plagued by a wide discount, is to switch focus to become an income fund. The Board, chaired by Ian Barby (pictured), consulted holders of more than 50% of the shares before making this proposal. The first element of this switch is a more than doubling of the dividend […]

Murray International’s results for the year ended 31 December 2014 have been published. Over the year the total return on net assets was 3% and the return to shareholders was 1.7%, unfortunately both these figures were behind the 7.5% return on the company’s benchmark (40% of the FTSE World UK Index and 60% of the […]

Empiric Student Property has acquired a student accommodation development in Aberdeen: Spital Court Studios. The deal is to buy the freehold of a forward funded development in Aberdeen currently being developed into purpose-built student accommodation by local developer, Scape Homes. The site is located on the corner of St Peter Street and St Peter Lane, within half a mile […]

SEGRO has sold Energy Park, its recently completed office development outside Milan to Hines Italia SGR for €118.7m. This price is 5% more than their value at the end of December 2014 and works out at a 7.3% initial yield. Energy Park is a fully-let, 61,400 sqm suburban office park built by SEGRO and completed […]

JPMorgan Claverhouse beat the FTSE All-Share index over 2014 by a narrow margin – delivering a total return on net assets of 2.1% vs. the Index’s 1.2%. The return to shareholders was 4% however as the fund’s discount narrowed from 3.4% to 5.4%. The total dividend for the year was upped from 19.5p to 20.0p. […]

Empiric Student Property’s acquisition spree continues with the £11.92m purchase of the Ballet School in Glasgow. The Ballet School is a conversion of the listed former home of the Scottish Ballet, on Willowbank Crescent, comprising 103 self-contained studios of various sizes, which was completed in 2013.  The property has been bought from the developer, CCG (Scotland) […]

Raven Russia has announced results for the year that ended on 31 December 2014. Over the period the company’s fully diluted, adjusted net asset per share fell to 106cents from 126cents. The proposed final distribution, equivalent to 3.5 pence per share, makes a total of 6 pence per share for 2014, a 20% increase on 2013. They intend to […]

Marwyn Value Investors has made a new investment today into Zegona Communications. They are paying £12m (about 6% of MVI’s NAV) for a 40% stake in the company. Zegona is listing on AIM. It will be run by two ex Virgin Media executives, Eamonn O’Hare (Chairman and CEO) and Robert Samuelson (COO). Eamonn was Chief Financial Officer […]

Hg Capital’s results for 2014 show a 12.8% return on net assets and a 9.6% return on share price – well ahead of the 1.2% return on the FTSE All-Share Index. the final dividend is being increased from 29p to 32p to take the full year dividend to 51p (including a 19p special dividend). £83m […]

Hansteen’s results for the year ended 31 December 2014 show a 12.1% increase in its EPRA Net asset value and a 4% increase in its EPRA earnings per share. They have increased the full year dividend from 4.8p to 5p and, in addition, are paying a special dividend of 3p per share. This brings the […]

Alliance Trust’s results for 2014 show its net asset value rising by 5.8%. the annual dividend was increased to 12.438p, 14.3% up year on year, and this helped push the fund’s total return on net assets to 8.1%. The share price return was 9%. Unfortunately this is somewhat behind the 11.2% return generated on the […]

Athelney Trust’s results for the year ended 31 December 2014 show its net asset value rising by 4% to 228p. The dividend is being increased by 21.8% from 5.5p to 6.7p. The total return was 6.5% – ahead of the 6.2% return on the Fledgling Index and well ahead of the -1.5% return on the […]

Industrial Multi Property Trust’s results for the year ended 31 December 2014 show its net asset value (on an adjusted basis) increasing from 207p to 220p (the unadjusted net asset value rose from 206.8p to 210.3p). They aren’t paying a dividend. Industrial Multi Property Trust has fifty-three multi let properties (split roughly 85% industrial and […]

Picton Property is paying £14.65m for a retail park in Gloucester. Gloucester Retail Park, on Eastern Avenue, has four units totalling 112,000 sq ft of space let to B&M Bargains, Carpetright, The Range and AHF with a weighted average lease life of 13.2 years. It generates rents of £1.067m, equivalent to a rent per sq […]

European Assets’ results for the year ended 31 December 2014 show that the fund had a great year. the net asset value total return was 7.7%, the share price return was 8.8% and the dividend was increased by 8.5% in Euro terms, on top of a 27% increase in 2013. By contrast the return on the […]

Allianz Technology Trust failed to match the return on its benchmark, the Dow Jones World Technology Index, over the year to the end of November 2014. Over the year the fund delivered a return of 18% vs. the Index’s 27.3%. To compound the problem, the discount widened from 0.45 to 5.8% and so the return to […]

UK Commercial Property has two debt facilities. One of £80m, provided by Lloyds Bank, expires in June 2015 and the other of £150m, Provided by Barclays Bank, expires in May 2018. the company wants to refinance the Lloyds loan and has found a new lender that is prepared to lend it money for 12 years. Interest is […]

Over the six months ended 31 January 2015, Pacific Horizon’s net asset value per share rose 7.9% to 216.74p. The share price rose 12.5% and the discount narrowed from 11.5% to 7.7%. Over the same period the MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan Index rose 8.5% in sterling terms. The manager has been increasing the […]

Aberdeen Smaller Companies High Income has announced results for the year ended 31 December 2014. The total return on net assets for the period was -2.1% which compares favourably to the return on the FTSE Smaller companies Index of -2.7%. However the return to shareholders was -14.9%, reflecting a widening of ASCH’s discount from 5.7% […]

GLI Finance has sold its entire stake in Fair Oaks Income Fund (34,298,425 shares) to a fund advised by Coller Capital. GLI Finance was a founder shareholder in Fair Oaks Income. Its shares were received in exchange for the injection of GLI Finance’s CLO investments into Fair Oaks’ portfolio. With this deal, GLI Finance finally […]

NB Distressed Debt Investment Fund Limited has announced that senior analysts, Brendan McDermott and Ravi Soni, have been promoted to co-portfolio managers for distressed debt, effective immediately.  Mr. McDermott and Mr. Soni report to Michael Holmberg, Senior Portfolio Manager and head of Neuberger Berman’s distressed debt business. At the same time they’ve announced that, Patrick Flynn, co-portfolio […]

Foreign & Colonial had a good 2014 but returns were below those of the FTSE All World Index. The total return on net assets was 10.3%, comprising a  7.9% uplift in the NAV and a 9.3p dividend, up 3.3% on the previous year. The index returned 11.3%. The return to shareholders was 13.5%. Over the first […]

Foresight Solar results for the year ended 31 December 2014 have been released. The net asset value at the end of December was 100.9p – up from 98p post flotation of the company. Two interim dividends of 3p were declared for the year. The fund is now switching to paying quarterly dividends. These will rise […]

QuotedData, explains why this research resource was set up, and how it can help investors. The objective here is to provide research that is “clear, concise and understandable”, and QuotedData offers basic information for those new to investing, as well as more advanced coverage of the sector for seasoned investors. http://www.theaic.co.uk/aic/news/commentary/information-not-advice-or-a-hard-sell?dm_i=OVU,37U6V,7IMTJG,BISUD,1  

Advance Frontier Markets Fund outperformed a falling benchmark (the MSCI Frontier Markets Index) over the six months ended 31 December 2014 – falling by 9.2% vs. -11.1%. The share price fell by 13.6% however as the fund’s discount shifted from 6.6% to 11.2%. The managers’ report says funds including Africa Emerging Markets Fund, Ashmore Middle […]

In its interim results statement, The Investment Company reported a small fall in its net asset value over the second half of 2014 of 1.6% to 388p. The company was making distributions equivalent to 6% of its asset value each year. The Board has decided that this isn’t sustainable in the current market environment and […]

AXA Property Trust has reported a return on net assets of 3.6% for the second half of 2014 as the NAV rose from 54.5p to 56.5p. They say that two more sales of properties in the portfolio are close to being agreed. If they can get these done, a further capital distribution may be possible […]

Over the second half of 2014 JPMorgan Global Convertibles Income generated a negative return on net assets of -4.8%. The return to shareholders was -5.8%. Two quarterly interim dividends of 1.125p have been declared so far. The target is to pay 4.5p for the year as a whole. Discussing the performance, the investment manager mentions energy […]

British Land has announced that it is paying £135m for Surrey Quays Leisure Park – the seller is Aviva Investors. When combined with Surrey Quays Shopping Centre and Harmsworth Quays, the former Daily Mail General Trust printing works, British Land has now assembled a 50 acre site close to Canada Water and Surrey Quays stations that it […]

Custodian REIT has added to its portfolio, paying £2.465m for a 17,384 sq ft, four storey office building in Glasgow city centre, with excellent transport links to junction 19 of the M8, Central and Queen Street train stations and Buchanan Street underground station. The property is let to four tenants with lease expiries between 30 […]