Private markets: A closer look at the expanding private debt opportunity

We look at the attractions of the private debt market, historically the hunting ground of the institutional investor

NB Global Monthly Income Fund

NBMI offers a high monthly yield with less interest rate risk than conventional bonds

The complexity premium

Demand for alternative assets has soared in recent years, as investors have sought yield and low NAV volatility outside the bond market in a low interest rate world. The investment trust sector has been a major beneficiary, with many closed-ended funds offering these characteristics through their ability to invest in illiquid assets. Historically, alternative assets have offered the potential for higher returns by (in technical terms) harvesting the illiquidity premium. In more natural language

Riders on the storm

The coronavirus pandemic has had a dreadful impact on equity dividends, particularly in the UK market. Between 31 March 2020 and 31 March 2021, UK companies cut their dividends by 41.6% on an underlying basis, according to the latest Link Dividend Monitor. The cuts have continued into 2021, with a 26.7% fall on an underlying basis in Q1. That said, there was a headline increase of 7.9% thanks to the second-highest special dividends reported, thanks to large payouts from Tesco and the rallying mi

Which alternative trusts could outperform equities?

Secular stagnation refers to the economic theory that growth will be persistently low for some time to come, due to an imbalance between savings and investment. If capital is saved rather than invested productive capacity lies idle, while the drag on consumption reduces demand in the economy. As a result GDP growth is reduced. As we have previously discussed, there is no historical evidence that GDP growth has a direct impact on stock market growth – in contradiction of the theorised linkage via

NB Global Floating Rate Income - Overview

The board of NBLS is proposing a radical overhaul of the fund’s strategy which would see its mandate widened extensively in order to generate a high monthly income. In order to reflect the new mandate, the name of the fund would be changed to Neuberger Berman Global Monthly High Income Fund. NBLS currently exclusively invests in floating-rate loans. Under the proposals the investment mandate would broaden to also include conventional fixed income (both investment grade and high yield), as well a

Stairway to heaven Update

Many investors think ISA investing is all about sticking equities away for the long term and forgetting about them. However, we think there are good reasons for allocating to alternative income-generating assets in your ISA, even for those concerned with longterm capital growth. We think that many investors don’t fully appreciate the benefit of reducing the volatility on a portfolio. When thinking about long-term returns, the tendency is to think of the average return in the long run as what you

Fidante Daily Digest

Augmentum Fintech – Zopa banking licence | NB Global Floating Rate Income – EGM on share buyback author | BioPharma Credit – Statement on TESARO

NewRiver REIT+ (NRR, House Stock at 87p) - Credit rating update reinforces balance sheet quality

SP Angel Morning View: China lithium stocks rally on prospects for market rebound

Regional REIT - Dividend rebase pragmatic and sustainable

Regional REIT’s (RGL’s) post-pandemic recovery in new lettings paused in H123, as occupiers adopted a cautious ‘wait and see’ approach, although rents increased and the strong ‘return to the office’ supports RGL’s expectation that leasing will accelerate. With DPS lowered to match reduced income prospects, the shares have fallen sharply, maintaining a sector-high dividend yield. Including asset sales focused on low-income properties, our forecasts show the rebased dividend to be fully covered an

NFT INVESTMENTS PLC (NFT PZ) - NAV Rises to 4.3P per share

The Joy of Techs - Cavendish Technology quarterly sector note

£23.3bn in enterprise value has been returned to AIM technology shareholders over the past six years in the form of 51 public to private takeouts, including 10 in 2023 alone with the takeovers of Smoove* and Tribal announced in early October. With UK valuations appearing cheap and looking more attractive to potential acquirers, we take a moment to reflect on the trends of corporate and private equity bidders targeting AIM-listed technology companies going back to 2017, through the uncertainties

Henderson Far East Income - Cautious of continued volatility but value on offer

In our last review of Henderson Far East Income (HFEL) in July, Attractive yield despite modest dividend increase, we drew attention to the dividend increase from what is comfortably the highest yielding fund in the AIC Asia Pacific Equity Income sector. It was pleasing to see that in the company’s published full year results to the end of August, the dividends paid by the company were covered and that over £1m was added to the revenue reserves over this period. In this note we examine the drive

Princess Private Equity Holding - Offering an attractive dividend yield

Princess Private Equity Holding (PEY) posted a year-to-date NAV total return (TR) to end-October 2023 of 4.9%, 2.4% of which was from Q323. PEY’s performance continues to be assisted by portfolio earnings, with last-twelve-month (LTM) revenue and EBITDA growth to end-September 2023 of 16% and 15%, respectively, and sustained healthy average EBITDA margin of 24%. PEY’s balance sheet remains firm with c €134m in undrawn credit facility and €3m in cash, further assisted by the Civica sale proceeds

LIBERUM: PensionBee: Hitting milestones despite headwinds

NewRiver REIT+ (NRR, House Stock at 85p) - High quality earnings story – upgrade potential

Initial Equity Trading Comments - 1 December 2023

Early Mover in UK Lab-grown Meat

BSF Enterprise Plc (BSF) is a biotechnology company focused on acquiring, combining, and building businesses in the lab-grown tissue space. It aims to achieve this through an acquisition-led growth strategy and has already acquired the tissue engineering and cellular agriculture company, 3D Bio Tissues.

NextEnergy Solar Fund - H1/24 interim results and asset recycling update

NextEnergy Storage Fund now has 100 operational assets with a combined installed capacity of 933MW and exclusivity over, or ownership of the project rights for, most of its c£500m pipeline of domestic and international solar and energy storage assets. H1/24 performance was robust, with power generation in line with budget and the 36MW Whitecross solar farm energised. The first sale from the asset recycling programme has been completed post-period, with the proceeds being used to reduce short-ter

European Opportunities Trust - Termination of coverage

Edison Investment Research is terminating coverage on European Opportunities Trust (EOT). Please note you should no longer rely on any previous research or estimates for this company. All forecasts should now be considered redundant. Previously published reports can still be accessed via our website.

R&Q Insurance Holdings - FY22 Results

R&Q reported an adjusted group pre-tax operating loss for the year to end December 2022 of US$33.3m (2021 (US$21.4m)). The results were in line with guidance from the April trading statement but represented a significant deterioration YoY as strong results from the Accredited program management business were more than offset by losses in the R&Q Legacy insurance business and higher corporate costs. On an IFRS reported basis, R&Q made a loss of US$297.0m (2021 (US$127.1m)) generating a loss per s

Personal Group Holdings - Solid interims

Personal Group’s interims show strong growth momentum, with revenue up by 34% and EBITDA increasing by 75%. Given strong new insurance sales have continued at the start of H2 and retention levels have remained robust, the group is confident in meeting full-year expectations. The balance sheet remains strong (H1 net cash of £22.6m) and confidence in the outlook is reflected in the 10% increase to the interim dividend. Overall, this is an encouraging set of results and underlines the resilience of