Prices and Markets

As we approach the seventh anniversary of Polar Capital Global Financials Trust (PCFT)’s launch, its directors are proposing that the company continues beyond its planned wind-up date. A decade after the financial crisis, the sector, and banks in particular, remain out of favour. The problem is compounded for UK-based investors by the narrow choice of banks available; it makes sense to look elsewhere for faster-growing, better-managed businesses. However, this is a complex sector. PCFT offers a way of capturing the...

Adding value in cautious times Standard Life Investments Property Income Trust (SLI) has a long-term track record of market-beating returns achieved by investing in a diverse portfolio of commercial property in the UK. Minimal retail holdings and a bias to industrial property have proved beneficial to the fund. However, its active approach to asset management, aiming to keep voids low and rent flowing, has also been fundamental to its performance. Identifying and selling assets where the rental income may be...

The sluggish start to the year for listed property companies is hardly surprising given they were coming off a high base after the “Boris-bounce” following the general election in December. Topping the list was Triple Point Social Housing REIT. The group, along with its social housing peer Civitas Social Housing – which had the fifth highest share price gain in January, had a strong end to 2019 and regained some of the share price falls they had suffered earlier in...

In this issue Performance – After beginning the year in the ascendancy, helped by easing tensions between the US and Iran, the outbreak of coronavirus in China pulled the breaks on risk assets, particularly hitting Asian and resource funds. Significant selling has taken place in early February (not included in this roundup), following the end of the Chinese new year celebration. Out of the bottom 10 performers by NAV, seven were either Asian or resource-focused. Amongst the outperformers, New life-sciences fund, RTW Venture had the third best...

Aberdeen New Dawn (ABD) has provided peer-group-beating performance during 2019 (an NAV total return of 18.4% versus a peer group average of 15.2%). Despite this, and also despite offering one of the lowest ongoing charges ratios amongst its peers, its discount to NAV remains broadly unchanged and is still, peculiarly, one of the widest in the Asia Pacific sector (ABD is trading on a discount of 10.6% versus a sector average of 7.9%)... Read more The manager has shifted its...

The second half of 2019 was a profitable time for investors in Shires Income (SHRS), as the trust extended its outperformance of both the UK market and the average competing fund. Investors also benefitted from the elimination of the discount as the share price rose to match the NAV. The trust continues to issue shares (a process that began in January 2019 after a long pause), and this should both help widen its audience, improve liquidity in the shares, and...

Industrial property market – the gift that keeps on giving The industrial and logistics sector has been on a tremendous run over the past five years or so. It is hard to think now, given the current dynamics in the property industry, that retail and offices were the sectors of choice for investors for many years with industrial cast aside by most. All that changed, primarily off the back of a fundamental shift in consumer buying habits. Amazon has become...

There was plenty to worry about in 2019, though this did not stop risk assets having a year that would have defied all but the most optimistic forecasters. The initial trigger came from the US, where the central bank performed a U-turn, abandoning planned interest rate increases. Gold also had its best run in years. The year ended with a tense stand-off between the US and Iran that served as a reminder that relative geopolitical calm should not be taken...

December was a good month for listed property companies, with the sector experiencing a bounce following the convincing majority the Conservative party won at the general election. For the second month in a row, estate agency group Countrywide topped the charts for the biggest share price gains. This follows news that it had agreed a deal to sell its commercial property arm Lambert Smith Hampton. Prior to this, the company had suffered big falls in its share price, down 19.3%...