Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies

SST has performed well in a tough environment thanks to its quality focus…

Bargain hunt

We survey the discount opportunities in the market and update on the performance of our Discounted Opportunities Portfolio

Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies - Overview

Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies (SST) aims to identify high-quality Asian businesses with market-leading positions and strong balance sheets which can grow faster than the market over the long run. The strategy has a track record of generating good returns after global economic crises. As we discuss in Performance, it has done well in 2021 so far too. SST has been run to the same basic strategy by the same team at FSSA since launch in 1995 but has been revivified in recent years under lead

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

Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies - Overview

Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies (SST) invests in market-leading businesses which have a market cap of below $5bn at the time of investment. These companies are chosen for their low levels of debt, strong management teams, and ability to compound earnings consistently over the long run. SST performed very well after the 2008 financial crisis and the 2000 bursting of the tech bubble, as discussed in the performance section, which has contributed to it being one of the ten best-performing trus

Get 'em while they're hot!

The period since our last review of investment trust discounts on 22 October has been a pretty good one for investors in trusts, and has seen the average discount on the sector narrow from 3.5% to under 1%. In fact, despite the tumultuous events of 2020, it is now almost as if the year had never happened: the universe entered the year on a discount of 1.5% and ended it on a discount of 1.1%, where it remains as of 07/01/2021.

Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies - Overview

Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust (SST) aims to buy marketleading Asian businesses with a market cap below $3bn and hold them for the long term as they grow. Manager Vinay Agarwal aims to find companies which can generate high and sustainable earnings, typically from dominating a niche and having advantages which can’t be easily replicated. He aims to buy these companies on reasonable valuations and invest on a three- to five-year time horizon. A key element of the investment process is

Five ways to play Indian equities

India is one of the countries hit worst by the coronavirus crisis. In Q2 the country’s GDP fell 23.9%, which compares to an average of -6.9% for the OECD average and growth of 11% for China, following a 10% decline in Q1. India’s government has also definitively lost control of the virus itself. While other countries can at least claim to be restraining its spread (although that is contentious), India has been continuing with its national unlocking while cases rise rapidly (even if some states h

Always darkest before the dawn

Since we last reviewed our portfolio of discount opportunities, an awful lot has happened. The period from October to December saw a new Brexit deal, followed by the UK government winning a parliamentary majority to implement it. Both were bullish for UK and European markets, and led to a sharp rally in markets and a rapid narrowing of investment trust discounts. Globally, the mood was pretty optimistic for 2020; with a growing number of managers and commentators forecasting a rally in cyclical

Don't panic: the case for investing in Asia this ISA season

The coronavirus outbreak in China has developed from a humanitarian catastrophe to a stock market panic. While the short-term economic impact of the virus could well be severe, there are still fundamental reasons to be invested in developing Asia for long-term investors. Historically one reason investors have been encouraged to invest in emerging Asian markets is to benefit from the region’s greater GDP growth. The OECD forecasts that UK real GDP, that is adjusted for inflation, will grow by 2.

Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies - Overview

Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust (SST) aims to generate capital growth from a portfolio of Asian ex Japan smaller companies which are selected for their long-term growth potential. Manager Vinay Agarwal looks for high quality companies trading on attractive valuations, and aims to hold them for three years at a minimum, but ideally for much longer. The strategy centres on finding companies with strong positions in growing markets and industries, and with management teams who work in the

Quality street: can the dominant style continue to outperform?

Quality as an investing style has outperformed significantly in recent years, and over the past 12 months especially so. After this kind of outperformance, it is natural to ask whether a trend is over-done and profits should be taken – and that is what we have done. When analysing the typical quality benchmarks, it quickly becomes apparent that these indices have significant industry and sector exposures, which could affect how they perform in the future and put them at risk of a down period. Bu

Push-me pull-you

Since the start of 2018, investors in Asian equities have had a torrid time, with the region underperforming global stock markets. Perhaps reassuringly for investors, the drivers of this underperformance have not been economic fundamentals but more unpredictable factors, which are external to the economies and markets of the region – namely, the ongoing trade dispute between the US and China, and expectations for the US federal funds rate (the global economy’s risk-free rate). However, this does

Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies - Overview

Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust (SST) aims to generate capital growth from a portfolio of Asian ex Japan smaller companies which are selected for their long-term growth potential. Manager Vinay Agarwal looks for high quality companies trading on attractive valuations and aims to hold them for three years at a bare minimum, but ideally for much longer. Vinay took over in 2016 and has revivified the portfolio, accelerating the concentration of holdings initiated by previous manager, Wee

Surf's up

BlackRock World Mining Trust | Invesco Income Growth Trust | Perpetual Income & Growth IT | BlackRock Energy and Resources Income Trust | Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies | JPMorgan Asian

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.

BlackRock World Mining

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

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.

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

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

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 16/04/2024

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AUM up 30% in FY24, record flows, forecasts raised

AUM jumped £3.8bn or +30% in FY24, reaching £16.6bn on 31 Mar 24, 12% above our previous forecast of £14.7bn. Including 50%-owned 8AM Global, Assets Under Influence hit £17.6bn. Investment performance provided a tailwind, adding £1.5bn to AUM. But our key takeaway from Tatton’s hugely impressive last few years, is that it has designed and implemented a superior offering in platform-MPS with net flows consistently far higher than peers. That leadership looks even more pronounced in H2-24 with net

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

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

Morning Note – 18 April 2024