Riding out the storm

Many investors are attracted to investment trusts for the discount opportunities: e.g. for the chance to buy £1 of assets for 80p or less (see our Discounted Opportunities Portfolio for some potential examples). However, particularly in volatile market environments such as today’s, some investors may be put off by the uncertainty that discounts bring: they may worry about the possibility of trying to ‘catch a falling knife’, as it can be difficult to call when a discount will rebound or when it

Scottish American - Overview

Scottish American Investment Company (SAINTS) aims to offer investors real dividend growth through increasing income and capital over the long term. The portfolio is predominantly comprised of equities, but the manager also has the capacity to invest in bonds, property and other asset classes. James Dow and Toby Ross manage the portfolio, searching for companies with a dependable yield and good growth prospects. They believe that companies which are committed to paying out dividends are general

Income for the long haul

As the end of the financial year approaches, we enter ‘ISA season’. In the first of several articles on generating income for an ISA investment, we look at the advantages of investing in equity income trusts. We explain why investment trusts can be useful for long-term, income-hungry investors, and the myriad benefits that the closed ended structure offers. We also identify trusts that best exploit the tools that investment trusts have to offer to achieve their income objectives, and illustrate

Scottish American Investment Company - Overview

Scottish American Investment Company (SAINTS) is a differentiated equity income trust, aiming to deliver real dividend growth by increasing capital and growing income. Distinctively, the trust invests globally in equities, but it also has the flexibility to invest in other areas such as bonds and directly held commercial property. 2015 saw a shift in strategy– moving from a strategy that targeted solely high income – to a portfolio targeting income growth. So far, this has had a transformative

An unhealthy addiction?

We have highlighted, on many occasions, the high level of concentration among UK equity income funds – in particular, the fact that many managers in the AIC UK Equity Income and IA UK Equity Income sectors rely on a small handful of mega-cap FTSE stocks for their dividends. This isn’t necessarily an issue in itself, but the fact many of these companies are fundamentally challenged due to low levels of dividend cover compounds the potential problems going forward. For example, in a piece of resea

Redde

Proposed share-for-share merger with Northgate

Lowland Investment Company - Is the tide turning?

Lowland Investment Company’s (LWI’s) unconstrained, multi-cap investment policy differentiates it from most peers in the AIC UK Equity Income sector. It offers investors broad market exposure, outside of the large, traditional ‘income stocks’ at a 13% discount to NAV. The underperformance of small- and mid-cap companies versus larger peers has slowed and a turnaround would be very positive for LWI. Portfolio returns are already benefiting from acquisition activity, spurred by low valuations, and

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.

PCI Pal - +25% FY23 revenue growth, FY24 growth of +28% reiterated

PCI Pal’s FY23 results show revenue growth of +25% to £14.9m, gross profit growth of +31% to £13.1m at a margin of 88%, and an outlook confirming robust momentum in H1 24. The FY23 results are as expected following the August trading update, and FY23 Total Annual Contract Value (TACV) is +23% yoy to £16.4m, with ARR +14% yoy to £12.6m due to £3.1m of contracts in deployment. We expect ARR will increase +35% and +31% to £17.0m and £22.2m in FY24 and FY25, as management lands and expands following

Tetragon Financial Group - FY23 growth driven by idiosyncratic factors

Tetragon Financial Group (Tetragon) posted a 6.4% net asset value (NAV) per share total return (TR) in US dollar terms in FY23. Tetragon’s returns normally have a low correlation with broader markets, and therefore its FY23 performance was below the 26.3% return of the S&P 500 Index, which rallied on the artificial intelligence (AI) theme. Tetragon’s FY23 return on equity (RoE) of 5.5% was below its target of 10–15% pa. That said, its performance since listing was within the target range at 11.3

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

Zeus Top Picks for 2024 - 2023 review and outlook for 2024

On 9 January last year, we set out our ten top stock picks for 2023, for what turned out to be another relatively poor twelve months for UK equities due to two wars, stubbornly high inflation and further tightening of monetary policy. This was even as other major markets, such as the US, largely recovered in the year. In the 2023 calendar year, the AIM All-Share index fell 8.2% and is still 42% off its 2021 high. From the release of our 2023 top picks note, the average total return (assuming div

Vector Capital - Full year results illustrate challenging backdrop; dividend maintained

Vector Capital is an established commercial lending group, focused on secured short-term and bridging loans in the property sector. This morning, the group has reported full year results to 31 December 2023, illustrating the challenging market backdrop. While underlying trading was robust, with good demand being seen for new loans, provisions for bad debts relating to historical loans of £728k in the year led to a decrease in PBT to £2.1m (WHI est. £2.4m, FY22 £2.8m). Looking ahead, although VCA

Strong H1'23 results; forecasts upgraded