QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – March 2019 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 February 2019. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford.
JPMorgan Chinese, Fidelity China and Pacific Horizon benefited from a booming Chinese market in February. This was mainly due to increased investor optimism in US-China trade relations. Pershing Square’s price rose after it announced it would pay dividends. Healthcare stocks are more buoyant following a few takeovers in the sector, benefitting funds such as BB Healthcare. Japan had a better month with strong performance from Fidelity Japan and Atlantis Japan Growth. The latter fund’s manager says that the portfolio’s growth bias and its overweight in small and medium cap stocks helped it in February. Dunedin Enterprise was tipped in the Telegraph. US-focused funds like JPMorgan US Smaller Companies and Baillie Gifford US Growth rose as investors became less nervous that rates would rise.
The main underperformers in price terms in February struggled significantly due to Airbus’ announcement that it will be halting A380 production in 2021. Those funds that own and lease A380s to Emirates – the three Doric Nimrod funds and Amedeo Air Four – have all seen sharp falls in their share prices. Civitas Social Housing encountered issues around grading under review notices, increasing the nervousness of investors. Ground Rent’s share price fell five percent following the loss of a court hearing, rendering them at fault for a failure of a structural sealant at Beetham Tower in Manchester. Brazil gave back some of the gains that it made in January, knocking JPMorgan Brazil, Aberdeen Latin American and BlackRock Latin American. Hurricane Energy’s share price weakened, hitting Crystal Amber.