Top of the Pops

We reveal the winners of our investment trust ratings for 2024... Our ratings seek to reward closed-ended funds which deliver attractive and persistent performance characteristics in three categories which we think match up to broad goals investors usually have: long-term growth, income and growth, and high current income. This includes strong performance versus a fund’s underlying market, as well as attractive risk characteristics which we think suggests they could continue to be premium optio

Probably better asking an octopus

When a boy of the Algonquin people of Quebec reached puberty, they were taken to a secluded area and given a powerful and extremely hallucinogenic poison called Wysoccan, in the hope that this would purge their young minds of any memory of their childhood and leave them with a clean slate to face the years ahead. Some were so badly stricken by the drug that they would also lose the ability to speak and be unable to recognise members of their own family. Having spent most of the last fortnight

CC Japan Income & Growth

CCJI leads the performance tables in Japan over one, three and five years…

CC Japan Income & Growth

CCJI is an attractive ‘buy and hold’ strategy…

CC Japan Income & Growth

By focussing on Japan’s corporate leaders, CCJI’s performance has led the AIC Japan sector over both one and five years...

The Land of the Falling Yen

A cheaper currency is unlikely to change long-term trends in Japan...

On the hunt

We review discounts in the investment trust space against a backdrop of harsh conditions

CC Japan Income & Growth

CCJI has outperformed its peers and the TOPIX index over the last 12 months, while offering a consistent source of income

Investing in Japan using investment trusts

Back in 1988, in the midst of Japan’s meteoric economic growth, American political commentator Paul Harvey complained the US was facing an “economic Pearl Harbour” from its ostensible ally across the Pacific. His comments reflected a widespread fear that Asia’s then-largest economy would soon surpass the US as the world’s wealthiest nation and emerge as a global superpower.

Don’t fear the reaper

With market direction hard to call, we consider the case for taking a long- term view in the investment trust sector...

Bargains galore

We last updated our discounted opportunities portfolio in July. Since then markets have been grinding higher but discounts have not moved – and perhaps slightly widened. We think readers will largely agree that it is hard to have conviction about the direction of markets and leadership at the moment, which may explain the static picture regarding discounts. At a directional level, the easy gains in the recovery have been made, and government support schemes have still to be wound down, creating

CC Japan Income & Growth - Overview

CC Japan Income & Growth (CCJI) is managed by Richard Aston, who has a dual mandate of generating income and capital growth. Although CCJI is the only equity income strategy in the AIC Japan sector, Richard aims to find a balance between investing in quality growth opportunities and providing shareholders with attractive levels of income. In fact, as we highlight in the Portfolio section, CCJI’s portfolio is currently more expensive than its benchmark and has higher quality characteristics while

Grade inflation

Markets had a great first half to 2021 following on from what was a strong 2020, just as we all would have expected during a pandemic, no doubt! Our discounted opportunities portfolio has performed respectably in the six months to the end of June. We had one great success, with a trust leaving the list after a barnstorming rally, but overall results from a NAV and discount perspective were mixed, as we discuss below. Overall share price ratings are now high in the investment trust space, with de

IP Group - Several potential portfolio catalysts on the horizon

IP Group’s NAV declined by 13% in total return (TR) terms in FY23, affected by continued soft valuations across venture capital (VC) markets, as well as funding delays at some of its holdings. That said, management indicated that many of IP Group’s portfolio companies continued to make strong progress. Its maturing portfolio offers a number of potential NAV triggers and is now available at a wide 59% discount to NAV. We note that, as at end-2023, only 14% of IP Group’s portfolio was valued based

Hardman & Co Insight: 2023 was an annus horribilis for Quoted UK Infrastructure and Renewable Energy

The focus of Hardman & Co Research is on the nine quoted Infrastructure Investment Companies (IICs) and on the 22 Renewable Energy Infrastructure Funds (REIFs): the stocks analysed are all members of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC). We are updating our publication of January 2023, assessing both the lacklustre share price performances during 2023 and the key issues, including interest rates, inflation and power prices. As a 31-strong group, its combined market capitalisation is no

Meet, beat, repeat

FY23 - preparing for two high impact wells this year

LIBERUM: The Liberum Leisure Digest: NLW increase - pricing power is key

The Hardman & Co Monthly: April 2024

Feature article: Steady as she goes, but could be better: A review of investment company liquidity since 2016 Liquidity is the lifeblood of equity markets. The measurement of liquid asset availability to a market or company is a way of gauging a market’s health. This article builds on our previous work, which analysed the liquidity data for non-financial trading companies, by applying the same analytical techniques to the investment companies (IC) space. We analyse liquidity for ICs as a whol

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 16/04/2024

16th April 2024 * A corporate client of Hybridan LLP ** Arranged by type of listing and date of announcement *** Alphabetically arranged **** Potential means Intention to Float (ITF) has been announced Dish of the day Admissions: Delistings: What’s baking in the oven? ** Potential**** Initial Public Offerings: Reverse Takeovers: Electric Guitar (ELEG.L) Concurrent with its Admission to trading on AIM, Electric Guitar is proposing to acquire the entire issued share capital of 3radical Limited for

Braemar - Diversification paying dividends

Braemar’s FY24 trading update was in line with expectations, with revenues of c £150m and underlying operating profit of c £18m. Underlying operations continue to expand and diversify and the company remains well-positioned to drive its future growth strategy. The trading outlook is promising and Braemar should be able to leverage its strong balance sheet in pursuit of strategic growth. We have maintained our underlying estimates for FY24 and FY25, but edge down the valuation based on the lower

Trinity Delta Lighthouse: Avacta

Trinity Delta view: The proprietary pre|CISION platform is key to Avacta’s investment case, hence updated data that continue to support key hypotheses for AVA6000 are reassuring. Future efficacy data from studies planned to start in H224 will be key, and could also help to more broadly validate pre|CISION. The recent £31.1m fundraise (March 2024 Lighthouse), which provides a cash runway of c 24 months ie into early 2026, will be used to advance the therapeutics pipeline, in particular AVA6000, a

hVIVO - FY 2023 results, revenue in-line, margin better, future is bright

hVIVO has delivered FY 2023A results in-line with the 30 January 2024 TU, with total customer revenues of £56m, growth of 16% versus 2022A. Other income related to tax credits added another £2.6m. 2024 revenue guidance of £62m has been reiterated, representing 11% growth over 2023A, and ahead of the £60m that we had previously forecast. The company has good visibility with the 2024 figure, with 90% already being covered by the existing orderbook (stands at £80m at the end of 2023), as well as in

UK Equities: Overlooked, oversold, and over here

In this note we look at the gap between perception and reality in the UK equity market, the opportunities and threats in the economic and market outlook, and the emerging consensus that the valuation discount versus other major markets is at or close to an inflection point. We consider the benefits of UK equity strategies both for income investors and for those seeking exposure to the higher growth potential of smaller and mid-cap companies.

Avacta Group - AACR update

As pre-announced, Avacta has presented the results of the 3-weekly P1 Arm 1 study of its AVA6000 lead clinical asset, based on the pre|CISION™ drug development platform at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual general meeting. The update does not cover progress on the ongoing 2-weekly dosing study which is underway, and Avacta confirmed current guidance on timing including being on track to begin the dose expansion study in 2H24. There are compelling updates on the progress repor

Morning Note – 9 April 2024

LIBERUM: Agents of change: Evolving for modern demands

Allenby Capital: Deltic Energy - Update

Deltic Energy plc (DELT.L) has announced some positive news concerning its 50% interest in the Selene joint-venture with Shell UK Ltd. The announcement concerns a farm-out to Dana Petroleum Ltd of a 25% interest in Licence P2437 which contains the Selene prospect. The farm-out calls for Deltic retaining a highly meaningful 25% interest in one of the most interesting prospects in terms of risk profile and scale in the Southern North Sea (SNS) Basin while largely eliminating exposure to the cost o