The best form of defence

Last year we published a number of studies showing that investment trust managers were counteracting the rise of passive vehicles by further concentrating their portfolios and using the advantages of the closed-end structure such as gearing and the ability to pay income from capital more aggressively. New analysis from the team at Kepler shows that that over the past five years, trusts which have seen the greatest reduction in number of stocks in portfolios have generated the highest levels of

Sail away: the best trusts to escape the UK

nvestors are increasingly turning to global funds. We suggest that concerns around Brexit are most likely leading investors to seek diversification overseas. In terms of retail sales the global sector has been comfortably the most popular among investors over the past few quarters. In 2018 global funds had close to twice the level of retail sales of any other sector, as can be seen in the chart below. A similar trend has emerged in the investment trust sphere, where the average discount within t

Monks Investment Trust - Overview

Monks Investment Trust (MNKS) aims to deliver long-term capital growth through a well-diversified, actively managed, global equity portfolio. Rigorous, bottom-up analysis is at the heart of the investment process, with the managers, Charles Plowden, Spencer Adair and Malcolm MacColl, looking to identify growth companies with above-average earnings growth. The team takes a long-term view on their holdings as this ensures that the fundamental attributes of a company are given ample time to drive

Monks Investment Trust - Overview

The principal aim of Monks is to deliver long-term capital growth, through a differentiated, actively managed global equity portfolio. The managers utilise a rigorous bottom up investment process, seeking out growth stocks which they envisage will offer above average earnings growth. In order to achieve this a longterm view is taken, ensuring that the fundamental attributes of the company are given ample time to drive returns. Diversification is a key attribute of the portfolio, and constituents

Stable 4Q22

LIBERUM: Trident Royalties* - Record quarterly receipts

LIBERUM: Trident Royalties* - General Motors invests in Thacker Pass

Top Picks for 2023 - 2022 review and outlook for 2023

On 10 January last year, we set out our ten top stock picks for 2022, in what turned out to be a very poor twelve months for global equities, due to war, accelerating inflation, political instability and recession fears. Between 7 January 2022 and 31 December 2022, the AIM All-Share Index declined 30.0%, whilst the average performance of our ten top picks was -24.7%, a modest relative outperformance. In this note we discuss the performance of our 2022 top picks, equities trends in 2022, and our

QuotedData’s Real Estate Monthly Roundup – January 2023

Performance - 2022 ended with another difficult month for property companies as the sector continues to get to grips with the impact of higher interest rates. There were several funds that performed well during December, however, with secondary shopping centre landlord Capital & Regional top of the pile. For a second month on the trot Home REIT saw its share price tank after it came under attack from a short seller in November. Valuation moves - It was a mixed bag for valuations, with six-month

FY22 TU – Strong Upgrades on Better Performance

Argentex has issued a trading update for the 9M22 period this morning, with revenue and earnings performance ahead of expectations. FY22 revenues are up 54% yoy to £50.4m (+7.5% vs. SCM estimates) and operating margins are ahead of management expectations. This was driven by growth in the number of corporate clients as well as good progress across its growth strategy, with robust trading across all products and geographies. Another strong update from Argentex, as the Group continues to deliver o

Strong H1 update and contract wins

Made Tech has announced a very strong update: H1 sales +76% y/y and alongside this, also several wins/expansions worth £27m. As a result, Made Tech has now delivered 48%/FY23e sales and as well, has a very strong backlog: £48m (+53% y/y) so is very well positioned to drive continued growth, both this year and next. Margins meanwhile leave room for improvement, as having generated £0.5m EBITDA in H1, this leaves work to do, but with contractors now materially lower (at c.10% vs. c.20% in the PY)

Cenkos; Marlowe Plc -- Building the software offering

Marlowe hosted a well-attended CMD last week in which it provided a deep dive into its burgeoning software business, which from a standing start in 2018, has grown to represent c25% of group Adj EBITDA today, driven by a combination of targeted acquisitions and strong organic growth (mid-high teens in FY22A). Multiple macro drivers underpin growth in the global GRC market, which is expanding at a c8% CAGR. With the share price having nearly halved over the past 12-months, Marlowe now trades mate

FLASH: FY22 pre-close indicates profit beat

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 17 Jan 23

17 January 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment object

Q4 Activities Update

Trident Royalties Plc (AIM: TRR) has, this morning, provided an update on its activities undertaken during the quarter ended 31 December 2022. In terms of royalty receipts it has been the best quarter since inception. QoQ revenues increased 46% to US$3.5m (9x YoY). Each royalty either met or exceeded our forecasts with Koolyanobbing 52% ahead. The gold offtake portfolio was slightly above our forecast.

Thacker Pass Update

The lithium industry, perhaps the hottest sub-sector of mining right now, was set even more abuzz by the announcement yesterday that Lithium Americas Corp has secured a $650m financing package from General Motors for the development and construction of the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada. There has been some talk for a while on when an automaker was going to make a serious investment in a battery metal mine. This is the largest ever and it is suitable that it is in Thacker Pass which is the largest

Morning Note – 31 January 2023

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 23 Jan 23

23 January 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment object

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 19 Jan 23

19 January 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment object