abrdn Asian Income Fund - All looking good in terms of income and growth

abrdn Asian Income Fund (AAIF) recently posted an upbeat set of results. In FY23, the company outperformed its reference index (MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan), there was a significant increase in the dividend, which was fully covered and has now risen for 15 consecutive years, and AAIF’s board has negotiated a more competitive fee structure. AAIF is managed by abrdn’s well-established Singapore-based Asian equity team. This location is an advantage in terms of communication and developing strong

abrdn Asian Income Fund - Quality and value focus with an attractive yield

abrdn Asian Income Fund (AAIF) is managed by abrdn’s Singapore-based Asian equity team. As a local investor, the research team collectively speaks multiple Asian languages, so it can communicate with companies’ management teams in their native tongues. A local presence also offers the potential of identifying interesting opportunities that may be overlooked by other investors. AAIF is a low-beta fund, with its managers seeking both income and capital growth and an attractive yield. Stocks are se

abrdn Asian Income Fund - Income growth and above-average dividend yield

abrdn Asian Income Fund (AAIF) is managed by abrdn’s locally based Asian equity team. This offers the potential to react quickly to new information, deepen the relationships with investee companies and seek out interesting opportunities that may be overlooked by other investors. The company has generated a good run of relative performance since early 2021, helped by its below-market exposure to China. However, it should be noted that the portfolio is constructed based on bottom-up rather than to

abrdn Asian Income Fund - Quality through and through

abrdn Asian Income Fund (AAIF) is managed by abrdn, which has 30 years’ heritage of managing Asian equity strategies, one of the largest regional teams and $52bn in AUM across Asia and global emerging markets (at 30 June 2022). It is pleasing to see that after weaker relative performances in 2017, 2019 and 2020, AAIF has returned to form with strong relative showings in 2021 and 2022 converting into outperformance of the index and peers over one, three and five years. After dipping into reserves

abrdn Asian Income Fund - A reappraisal of the opportunities for AAIF

While western economies have been struggling with soaring inflation, rising interest rates and slowing economic growth, the managers of abrdn Asian Income Fund (AAIF) note that Asian markets, while not immune to these pressures, have generally not faced headwinds of the same magnitude. Asian markets have outperformed global equities in 2022, with the Indian, Australian and Hong Kong markets being especially buoyant. The economic issues facing Asia differ from those seen in the west. Arguably, th

abrdn Asian Income Fund - A core option for Asian income and capital growth

abrdn Asian Income Fund (AAIF) is a core option for investors seeking a combination of higher income and growing capital and income from Asian equities. abrdn uses its long-established investment process to structure a portfolio of high-quality companies that it considers to be undervalued and that in aggregate pay a premium and grow income. This process has provided investors with good long-term total returns.

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