Supermarket Income REIT (SUPR) has raised the £100m it was seeking in yesterday’s placing and retail offer. It will issue 120.5m shares at 83p, which, as the price is below the 87.5p per share of net asset value at 31 December, requires the approval of shareholders at a general meeting on 3 August. If this is gained, the new shares, which increase share capital by around 10%, will start trading on 5 August. The proceeds combined with borrowing will enable SUPR to fund the acquisition of nine assets for around £216m.

James Carthew, head of investment companies research at QuotedData, said: “SUPR’s fundraising was successful and I was pleased to see that retail investors got the opportunity to participate. Recent reforms have simplified the process of issuing shares and it would be great to think that there’s more of this to come. However, the pool of capital available to fund British businesses has shrunk significantly and hence it’s no wonder that companies have chosen to list in the US instead. Appeals are being made to Andy Burnham to fix this. Personally, I am not convinced that scrapping stamp duty will make much difference. Some way needs to be found to incentivise UK savers to invest in UK equities. Maybe that could be funded by being less generous with tax breaks on holding cash or investing in overseas stocks.”

Gary Channon, founder of Phoenix Asset Management Partners and manager of Aurora UK Alpha (ARR), chalked up a victory for his Barratt Redrow (BTRW) campaign after the house builder launched a £386m share buyback programme yesterday. Its shares rose 4.3% to 290p at the news which was accompanied by a positive full-year trading statement. Earlier this month Channon made a 450-slide presentation on the company arguing it could return up to 750p a share if it stopped buying new land, built on existing sites and bought back up to £1bn of shares that have fallen 58% in the past five years. Phoenix is the third largest shareholder in Barratt Redrow, which at 30 June accounted for 13% of Aurora UK Alpha, the £270m investment trust’s fourth largest holding. Channon said: “The board’s decision to return capital through buybacks, while the shares trade so far below their worth, is a step forward for shareholders. Every share bought back creates lasting value for those who remain. We remain of the view that the quantum [of buybacks] should be based upon cash generation and not constrained by accounting earnings. We look forward to continuing to engage with the board.”

The closures of the Diverse Income Trust (DIVI) and the open-ended Premier Miton Global Sustainable Optimum Income Fund accounted for £217m of the £837m net outflows suffered by funds group Premier Miton (PMI) in the third quarter to 30 June. Group assets under management (AUM) fell from almost £9bn at 30 April to £8.6bn at 30 June with the outflows mitigated by £475m of investment gains. AUM stood at £10.3bn last September. Chief executive Mike O’Shea said it was a “challenging” quarter but added: “While the scale of these outflows is disappointing, they remain concentrated in the areas of pressure highlighted in prior updates rather than indicating a broad-based deterioration across the business.” Premier Miton (PMI) shares dropped 5.2%, or 2p, to 36.5p. They have fallen 79% from 177p five years ago.

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