QuotedData investment companies roundup – February 2018 – is our latest roundup of news; price, NAV and discount movements; flows in and out of the sector and report on full year dividends announced over the month of January 2018. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford.
The oil price was up again over the month and this helped propel EF Realisation (whose largest asset is a US shale oil company) to the top of the tables. Fast Forward Innovations rose on the back of a run of good news from Nuuvera, its cannabis-focused investment. Polo Resources seems to have attracted some attention in a couple of tip sheets; the shares have been very volatile of late. River & Mercantile UK Micro Cap’s premium shot up in January, as investors ignored the danger of having part of their investment compulsorily returned to them at asset value. Looking at the NAV moves, strong performance was achieved from funds exposed to Japanese smaller companies (Atlantis Japan) and emerging and frontier markets, benefitting funds such as Terra Capital and BlackRock Frontiers, Brazil (BlackRock Latin and JPMorgan Brazil), Emerging Europe (BlackRock Emerging and JPMorgan Russian), Vietnam (VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity).
On the downside, one of the biggest influences on the performance of funds over the course of January was the weakness in the US dollar (which dropped by 5% relative to the pound). A whole raft of funds, whose underlying US dollar based NAVs didn’t move by much or at all in the month, made it into the biggest fallers as a result. These include CatCo Reinsurance Opportunities, which announced another lurch downward in its end December NAV (so escaping being at the top end of the table). Its share price reflects this move. EPE Special Opportunities continued its slide post December’s profit warning from Luceco. Its discount has opened up again. Investors have been piling out of Masawara before it delists on 7 February. Geiger Counter’s portfolio has been volatile recently as the uranium market tries to find a new level, post a number of production cuts. Alternative Liquidity’s discount has been widening again, post its latest return of capital.
QuotedData investment companies roundup – February 2018