Prices and Markets

Environmental groups are upping the pressure on Whitehall to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), with the Green Alliance urging the government last week to ban petrol and diesel cars by 2030. That highly ambitious timeframe for phasing out combustion engines would do wonders for reducing air pollution. Unfortunately, it also assumes everything is rosy on the supply side. As the ongoing saga surrounding Russia’s Nornickel (formerly known as Norilsk Nickel) should make clear, adequate supplies of the metals...

Aberdeen Frontier Markets - No closet-tracker - In a major shift in how its structured, Aberdeen Frontier Markets (AFMC) last year moved from investing indirectly via funds to investing directly into shares of listed companies. This was mostly completed by the end of June 2017. AFMC has under performed the MSCI Frontier Markets Index by some margin and this, in turn, has led to a widening discount. However, AFMC is not and does not want to be seen as a closet index-tracker....

QuotedData’s economic round up – March 2018 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 March - Economic and Political Roundup Roundup In mid-February, stock markets fell on concerns that strong...

QuotedData investment companies roundup – March 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 February 2018. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. March Investment Companies Roundup Equity markets continued to run up in early February, supported by strong corporate earnings and better economic data. However, in mid-February, they fell on concerns that strong global growth and emerging evidence of rising inflation...

Global Diversified Infrastructure - Does what it says on the tin! Global Diversified Infrastructure (GDIV) is a new investment trust from Gravis Capital Management. Other London-listed infrastructure funds have a strong bias towards UK-based infrastructure investments. GDIV will allow its shareholders to diversify their investment across a number of other countries and types of infrastructure asset. GDIV is targeting long-term and often inflation-linked returns of 8%-10% per annum. In its first year, GDIV is planning to pay a dividend of...

QuotedData is publishing a new Fidelity Closed-End Funds review. This covers funds in the Asia-Pacific ex-japan, Japanese Smaller Companies and UK All Companies sectors. Welcome to the fifth edition of QuotedData’s Fidelity Closed-End Funds Review – a regular publication looking at Fidelity and recent developments in three of its investment trusts – Fidelity Asian Values, Fidelity Japanese Values and Fidelity Special Values. In this issue: Fidelity Asian Values posted decent positive returns during 2017 but has continued to lag its peer group and...

John Laing Environmental Assets Group - Anaerobic diversification Unlike other listed renewable energy funds, John Laing Environmental Assets Group (JLEN) has exposure to waste and wastewater projects. A recent move into anaerobic digestion (see page 3) further differentiates it from its peer group and increases the diversification of its portfolio. The adviser likes this area as it is less exposed to the vagaries of power prices than other areas of the renewables market (a plus, given JLEN’s recent reduction in...

Hg Capital goes large - Hg Capital Trust has announced plans to invest in much larger deals than it has done to date. Hg Capital has announced results for the year ended 31 December 2017. It delivered a 21.5% return on NAV and a 19.5% return to shareholders over the period as the NAV rose to £19.32 but the share price failed to keep pace. The UK market returned 13.1% over this period. The dividend was maintained at 46p. £224m was raised from...

RIT Capital Partners (RCP) has announced its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2017. During the year, RCP saw growth in its net assets of £216m, taking its total net assets to an all-time high of £2.9bn and, during the course of the year, the company’s market capitalisation exceeded £3bn for the first time. RCP paid dividends totalling 32p during the year. Its board says that it intends to pay a total dividend of 33p per share in...