Prices and Markets

HgCapital invests in business messaging service, Esendex - HgCapital, the Manager of HgCapital Trust, has today announced an investment in Esendex, a leading provider of mission-critical business messaging services across Europe. On completion of the transaction, Esendex will be merged with existing Mercury portfolio company Mobyt, which provides similar business messaging services in Italy and France. HgCapital will have a majority share in the combined business with the Company owning c. 20% alongside other HgCapital clients. The terms of this transaction...

Utilico Emerging lags rising global emerging index as shareholders trail MSCI return by 12.2%. Utilico Emerging has announced an NAV total return (adjusted for the exercise of subscription shares) of 26.2% for the full year to 31 March 2017. However, someone who just held the ordinary shares and no subscription shares would have made a total NAV return of 22.5% over this period. This compares poorly with a return on the MSCI Emerging markets Index of 34.7%. Against its peers,...

Power price recovery boosts John Laing Environmental NAV - John Laing Environmental says its NAV at 31 March 2017 was 100.1p, up from 96.7p at 31 March 2016. They say that the increase in NAV per share was due primarily to the increase in both short-term electricity prices and forecasts for longer-term prices during the year and at the year end, leading to an improvement in the portfolio valuation of the renewable energy assets. This was offset to an extent by...

UK Commercial buys Sheffield office from Ediston - UK Commercial Property Trust has acquired a single let, Grade A office building in Sheffield, from Ediston Property Investment Company for GBP20,165,000, reflecting a net initial yield of 5%. The asset is let to Capita Business Services Limited, which is part of Capita plc, on a lease with annual indexed linked rent increases and 22 years to expiry. Delivering a current rent of GBP1,076,715 per annum, the transaction further increases UK Commercial Property's...

Custodian REIT buys Next distribution unit - the company has acquired a 69,922 sq ft distribution unit on Eurocentral, Scotland's leading mixed-use business park on the M8 arterial route between Glasgow and Edinburgh.  Nearby occupiers include DHL, Warburtons, Argos, Wincanton, Norbert Dentressangle and Morrisons. The unit is let to Next plc on a lease expiring on 6 March 2019.  Current passing rent is GBP349,850 per annum reflecting a net initial yield of 6.91%, with an expected reversionary yield of circa...

Hg Capital sells Zitcom for £8.8m. HgCapital, the Manager of HgCapital Trust, has announced that it has sold Zitcom, a leading Danish hosting and cloud solutions provider operating in the SME segment, to Intelligent, a Belgian headquartered provider of hosting services. The terms of this transaction were not disclosed. The sale of Zitcom delivers a c. 3.3x investment multiple and a c. 145% gross IRR over the investment period. The trust will realise cash proceeds of approximately GBP8.8 million on...

QuotedData is publishing a new update note on a company in the Flexible Investment sector: 170613 SIGT Update QD Seneca Global Income & Growth - Changing tack Seneca Global Income & Growth (SIGT) has continued to outperform its flexible investment peer group, since QuotedData last wrote, while providing lower volatility of returns. Under its discount control mechanism, SIGT has been recently issuing and repurchasing shares (see page 2). Demand has been stronger than its managers expected and the trust has...

Montanaro UK Smaller Companies sets out case for continuation after 43% long term underperformance - over the year to 31 March 2017, the NAV per share of Montanaro UK Smaller Companies (excluding current period revenue) rose by 11.3% to 621.6p in comparison with a gain of 15.4% by the Numis Smaller Companies Index. During the same period, the share price rose by 10.6% to 510.0p, reflecting a modest widening of the discount. The board is proposing a final dividend of 10.5p, an increase...

Seneca Global Income & Growth outperforms strongly Seneca Global Income & Growth Trust (SIGT) has announced its annual results for the year ended 30 April 2017. During the period, the trust provided an NAV total return of +19.6% and share price total return of +20.7%, both of which significantly outperformed its Libor+3% benchmark. The chairman’s statement also highlights that SIGT’s returns have been less volatile than the broader UK equity market. It says that its annualised volatility was 9.7% compared...