Prices and Markets

Electra to hand back another £350m and drop private equity from name - Electra has completed what it termed as "Phase II" of its strategic review. The conclusions are: Continue to focus on optimising return on shareholder capital. No new investment in current market conditions.  However, should conditions change the Board will consider further investment. A further special dividend of GBP350 million, or 914p per share. This is to be paid on 1 December 2017 to shareholders on the register of members at...

Quarterly investment companies roundup – Third quarter 2017 - Markets moved up a little over the course of the three months ended 30 September 2017. Regionally, emerging markets did well. The pound strengthened a bit relative to the US dollar but was flat against the euro. The oil price rose by more than 20%. In the investment companies sector, there were quite a few new issues. The median discount across all funds is still on a narrowing trend. The median premium...

Aberdeen Latin American Income (ALAI) has announced its annual results for the year ended 31 August 2017. During the period, the company's NAV total return was 25.1% and its share price total return was 23.7%, which the company says compares against a benchmark total return of 21.4%. The superior NAV total return reflects a widening of the company’s discount during the period from 11.8% to 13.3%. Brazilian exposure the biggest contributor The manager says that Brazil was the biggest contributor...

Dunedin Enterprise sells Kee Safety - Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust says that a contract has been signed, subject to completion, to sell its investment in Kee Safety, the market-leading provider of collective fall protection, safety systems and solutions.  Completion of the transaction is due on 31 October 2017. Capital and accrued interest in Kee Safety was valued at GBP11.6m as at 30 June 2017, the last published valuation.  Total proceeds from the sale will amount to GBP15.9m (an uplift of...

Qatar fund to become Gulf Investment Fund - Qatar Investment Fund intends to change its investment policy from a largely Qatar-focused investment strategy to a broader Gulf Cooperation Council ("GCC") investment strategy. Currently, the investment policy enables it to invest up to 15% in GCC countries (namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman and Bahrain) other than Qatar. The proposed change in investment policy will remove the 15% limit and enable it to increase its investment allocation to other GCC countries and provide the Investment...

Shock figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that Britain is £490 billion poorer than was thought. Britain’s stock of wealth has fallen from a surplus of of £469 billion to a net deficit of £22 billion. The UK has totally lost its reserve of foreign assets, and is actually in a much more vulnerable deficit, losing any safety margin just Theresa May’s government is attempting a breakthrough in a crucial stage of Brexit negotiations. This massive...

QuotedData investment companies roundup – October 2017 – 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 September 2017. Kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford. October Investment Companies Roundup Amongst the top performers, Alternative Liquidity Fund sold its stake in an Indonesian resort and Syncona investment, NightstarX, listed on NASDAQ. Livermore’s discount narrowed as it released its interim results. Pantheon said it would...

QuotedData’s economic round up – October 2017 – 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 Martin Currie. October Economic and Political Roundup Roundup Sterling bounced against the US dollar during...

Foresight Solar investing in Queensland - Foresight Solar Fund Limited has entered into binding contracts with Canadian Solar Inc., to acquire three construction stage assets in Queensland, Australia, representing 117MW of peak capacity once installed. The assets are Longreach Solar Farm (17 MW), Oakey 1 Solar Farm (30 MW) and Oakey 2 Solar Farm (70 MW) with the fund acquiring 49% interests in each of Longreach and Oakey 1, and a 100% interest in Oakey 2. Foresight's share of the equity...