Prices and Markets

Aberdeen Standard European Logistics Income – Poised to expand? Aberdeen Standard European Logistics Income (ASLI) has built a portfolio of 10 assets, invested all the money it raised at IPO and has declared dividends totalling 3p per share in respect of its first accounting period (in-line with its target). Borrowing facilities are being arranged that will fund the purchase of one more asset and meet stage payments for construction projects that it has agreed to finance. The growth of online shopping in Europe is...

Montanaro European Smaller Companies Trust – Quality businesses at sensible prices Montanaro European Smaller Companies Trust (MTE) is an investment trust that has a focused portfolio of growing companies selected for the quality of their business franchise, management, earnings and corporate structure. Over time, this emphasis on quality has stood it in good stead, especially in periods where investors become increasingly nervous, as has been the case recently. The result is that MTE is the best-performing European smaller companies trust by some margin (see...

International Biotechnology trust – Beating the odds Strategic positioning in mid-2018 helped International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) beat its benchmark over the past six months and close its discount to net asset value (NAV). This continued its outperformance of the US Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI) over three and five years. Active management of the portfolio and an increased focus on larger mid-caps played out well in terms of IBT’s performance versus its peers. IBT’s manager is maintaining its established policy of active risk mitigation, designed to avoid exposure to...

QuotedData’s economic roundup – February 2019 QuotedData’s economic roundup – February 2019 is a collation of recent insights on markets and economies taken from the comments made by chairmen and investment managers of investment companies – have a read and make your own minds up. Please remember that nothing in this note is designed to encourage you to buy or sell any of the companies mentioned. Kindly sponsored by Polar Capital. Roundup Most stock markets moved higher in January, reversing...

Investment companies roundup – January 2019 QuotedData’s investment companies roundup – February 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 January 2019. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. December’s sharp sell-off in technology and growth stocks reversed somewhat in January. This was good for funds such as Independent, Edinburgh Worldwide, BB Healthcare and Biotech Growth. Bargain hunting in UK equities helped...

Civitas Social Housing – Regulatory action is positive Civitas Social Housing (CSH) has met its dividend targets, grown its NAV and invested over £674m into 557 properties (housing almost 3,750 tenants) since its launch in November 2016. It has now merged its C shareand ordinary share portfolios and is focused on making best use of its capital structure (it plans to borrow more money so that its loan to value ratio rises to 35%), which should further strengthen its revenue account (as the income it generates on the properties...

Herald Investment Trust - Shifting sentiment Herald Investment Trust (HRI) is approaching its 25th birthday. HRI’s manager, Katie Potts, has been at the helm since launch, delivering considerable outperformance of equity markets. She has seen significant swings in sentiment towards the technology sector over that time. Growth stocks and the technology sector fell out of favour with investors towards the end of 2018. HRI held up better than the broader UK small cap market, but sterling weakness and worries about the...

Bluefield Solar Income Fund – Walking on sunshine Faced with rising prices for secondary solar power projects, Bluefield Solar Income Fund (BSIF) has taken a strategic decision not to focus on growing its portfolio during the last couple of years. Instead, a focus on increasing operational efficiency, coupled with a 32.5% increase in the power price, has helped deliver a 16.2% year-on-year uplift in BSIF’s underlying earnings for the year ended 30 June 2018 (from 8.32p per share to 9.67p per share). BSIF has...

With the shock of the most recent market volatility, it is easy to make decisions based on emotions, or panic and pull out of your investments. But, it’s important to keep in mind that market fluctuations are natural and they’re cyclical. “Most investors can’t simply handle the volatility with a "Set-it and Forget it" asset allocation portfolio. We believe that investors need to stay fully invested over a market cycle as it is nearly impossible to market time,” said Alex...