Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust – A recipe for a rerating?

As the most growth-orientated fund amongst its peers, Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust (BGUK) has faced particularly strong headwinds during the last 18 months, as investors have either sought sanctuary in value and defensive stocks, or pulled money out of equities altogether. Despite these challenges, BGUK has provided an NAV total return of 4.9% over the last year (peer group average of 3.3%) and, at an operational level its companies continue to perform well. The managers have reiterated thei

Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust – A recipe for a rerating?

A comparison of Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust (BGUK) against its peers suggest that it is the most growth-orientated fund in the group, and so it has likely faced particularly strong headwinds during the last 18 months, as investors have favoured value and defensive stocks. Despite these challenges, BGUK has provided an NAV total return of 4.9% over the last year (peer group average of 3.3%) and its managers say that, at an operational level, its companies continue to perform well. The manage

Global Macro Commentary & Investment Companies Roundup January 2023

• Performance: Atrato Onsite Roof soars as investors look on the bright side. • Premiums and discounts: Investors deserting Pollen Street following dividend cut. • Money in and out: Funds struggle to attract new funding.

Global Macro Commentary & Investment Companies Roundup January 2023

• Performance: Atrato Onsite Roof soars as investors look on the bright side. • Premiums and discounts: Investors deserting Pollen Street following dividend cut. • Money in and out: Funds struggle to attract new funding.

Baillie Gifford UK Growth - Patience will be rewarded

Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust (BGUK) has seen a marked fall in its NAV during the last 12 months as inflation expectations have risen, bringing with them interest rate rises and, in all likelihood, a recession. The derating of many growth stocks has been severe and BGUK’s managers say that selling has been indiscriminate, with good companies being hit as well as the bad. However, this provides an opportunity for long-term investors. They have been reappraising their investment cases in light o

Baillie Gifford UK Growth - Patience will be rewarded

Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust (BGUK) has seen a marked fall in its NAV during the last 12 months at a time when inflation expectations have risen, bringing with them interest rate rises and, quite possibly, a recession. The derating of many growth stocks has been severe and BGUK’s managers say that selling has been indiscriminate, with good companies being hit as well as the bad. However, this provides an opportunity for long-term investors in their view. They have been reappraising their inve

Looking way beyond the now

It is now just over three years since Baillie Gifford, a house famed for its growth investment strategies, took over the management of Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust (BGUK). This move has paid off with absolute and relative performance versus peers improving dramatically, while a marked discount was, until recently, eliminated. BGUK offers investors the best ideas from Baillie Gifford’s UK equities team. Its managers are stock pickers, with a long-term (five-to-10-year) view, whose portfolios a

Looking way beyond the now

It is now just over three years since Baillie Gifford, an investment management house famed for its growth-focused investment strategies, took over the management of Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust (BGUK). This move has paid off, with absolute and relative performance versus its peers (in the AIC’s UK All Companies sector) improving dramatically, while a marked share price discount to NAV was, until recently, eliminated. BGUK offers investors the best ideas from Baillie Gifford’s UK equities tea

Baillie Gifford UK Growth - Overview

Baillie Gifford UK Growth Fund (BGUK) aims to generate long-term capital growth by investing in a portfolio of what the managers regard as exciting, high-growth prospects: companies which are using new technologies to open up competitive advantages. Iain McCombie and Milena Mileva utilise a differentiated, long-term investment approach to find high-quality growth opportunities. The portfolio includes 44 companies and is therefore one of the most concentrated in the AIC UK All Companies sector, a

Children of the Revolution

The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, but with March coming to a close we have perhaps seen the end of the first act. Most of the developed world is in various degrees of ‘lockdown’; anxiously watching poorly reported – and often poorly understood – numbers for indications that their government’s strategy is working. Meanwhile equity markets saw one of their worst ever quarters in Q1 2020, as whole swathes of the economy were shut down by government diktat. The speed with which the situation d

Baillie Gifford UK Growth - Overview

Baillie Gifford UK Growth is a quality growth portfolio with a highly active, long-term approach. The trust was taken over from Schroders in June 2018 and completely overhauled, with 42 new holdings purchased and all but a few small inherited positions sold. Managed by Iain McCombie and Milena Mileva, the aim is to identify companies with the best long-term growth prospects without reference to the index, and to hold for a minimum of five years. The portfolio is well represented in the technolo

LIBERUM: Plus500: Strategic progress pays dividends

Tatton Asset Management (TAM LN) - Record net inflows

Tatton, the leading on-platform discretionary fund manager (DFM) and IFA support services Group has released a trading update ahead of its results to 31 March 2024, due on 18 June 2024.

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

Ondo InsurTech FY24 Trading Update

Ondo InsurTech has released a brief post-YE update revealing its good progress continued through 2H24 and consequently FY24 will be in line with market expectations.

Foxtons Group (FOXT LN) - 1Q24 IMS shows real momentum

Foxtons Group plc first quarter revenue rose 9% to £35.7m (1Q23: £32.9m) with growth delivered across all business segments. Trading is in line with management's expectations.

BlackRock World Mining

BRWM’s managers: we see all the classic signs of high commodity prices...

Morning Note – 18 April 2024

NextEnergy Solar Fund - Attractive Refinancing

The refinancing of a £135m revolving credit facility and the extension of a similar £70m facility gives NESF firepower as development opportunities for new solar are especially attractive thanks to lower module prices in Europe. They give the fund key financial flexibility at a critical time as it pursues its capital recycling programme.

Foxtons Group - FY24 underpinned by market share gains

Foxtons Group’s Q1 revenue grew by 9%, supported by growth in all three divisions as the strategic initiatives continue to gain significant momentum, driven by investment in staff, best-in-class bespoke IT and data platforms. This implies that Foxtons’ medium-term targets are now coming into focus. Market share is being gained in all divisions, which puts Foxtons in a good position as the sales market stabilises. We maintain our valuation of 132p/share and believe that if interest rates stabilis

NextEnergy Solar Fund – High- and growing-income opportunity?

NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF) is almost 10 years old. Since launch, it has built a £1.2bn, 933MW portfolio of 100 operating solar assets, powering the equivalent of over 330,000 homes, declared dividends totalling £333m, and avoided the emission of about 2.2 Mt CO2e. NESF is on track to pay 8.35p in dividends, with forecast dividend cover of about 1.3x. Share price weakness that has afflicted the whole sector means that dividend translates to a yield of 11.1%, one of the highest in its sector, a

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

Initial Equity Trading Comments - 19 February 2024

M Winkworth+ (WINK, House Stock at 163p) - Solid FY23A results, well placed to grow

Hybridan Research: Sector Review: Artificial intelligence in UK cybersecurity: the human uplift 17/04/2024

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a double-edged sword in cybersecurity. Whilst new AI models, architectures, and innovations are emerging to protect the security posture of organisations, attackers are also benefiting from deepfakes, sophisticated phishing, and automation of malicious codes. To ensure the impact of AI on cybersecurity to be a net-positive, we need to pit good AI against bad AI. Point solutions enhanced with machine learning: Global cybersecurity has been built with point soluti

Resilient FY24, confident long-term outlook

Vp’s full year update highlights sector-leading results, once again benefiting from the diversity of its end markets and the quality of its specialist businesses. With results expected to be broadly in line with expectations, we trim our FY24 PBT forecast by c.5% to £39.0m, a shade below the FY23 outturn (£40.2m). We consider this an impressively resilient performance set against a mixed market backdrop. Under new leadership, a strategic refresh is underway and management is confident in long