In QuotedData’s morning briefing 4 December 2024:

• Aurora UK Alpha (ARR) announced that following the proposed combination with Artemis Alpha Trust, it has changed its name to Aurora UK Alpha plc. The company will continue to trade under the ticker ARR.
• SDCL Energy Efficiency Income (SEIT) announced its interim results for the six months to 30 September 2024. The company’s NAV per share was flat, while shares fell 5%, leading to a widening of the discount which was 43% at the time of publishing. The company declared an aggregate dividend of 3.16p per, in line with guidance. Dividend cash cover was 1.1x.  The target dividend guidance remains 6.32p per share for the year to March 2025, an increase of c.1%. Tony Roper, chair of SEEIT, said: “We are pleased that both SEEIT’s operational and financial performance for the period were in line, or a little above budget and generated cash flows that fully underpinned the company’s progressive dividend policy. We are strongly of the view that SEEIT’s share price does not reflect the value of its investments nor the cashflows derived from them. To this end, the board and manager remain focused on addressing the share price discount by supporting the marketability and liquidity of the company’s shares.”
• Personal Assets Trust (PNL) announced its interim results for the six months to 30 September 2024. The company delivered a NAV total return of 3.4% compared to a benchmark return of 1.8%. The share price return was flat. The company’s discount narrowed to 1.2%, and was 0.8% at the time of publishing. During the period PNL bought back 19.3m ordinary shares (at a cost of £94.9m). The company paid two quarterly dividends of 1.4p per share and is on track to deliver total dividends of 5.6p per share over its full year. Investment manager Sebastian Lyon commented: “In our view, the equity market fails to reflect the rise in the cost of capital in recent years or the risks from the economy slowing. We are keen to increase the allocation to equities when we feel prospective returns are good. It is essential to avoid being sucked into a long-running bull market at what may prove to be close to the top. The environment can change quickly and the company holds substantial ‘dry powder’ that we expect to add to existing and new equity holdings when the opportunity arises.”
• Monks Investment Trust (MNKS) announced its interim results for the six months to 30 October 2024. The company delivered an NAV total return of 6.3% compared to 8.1% for the benchmark index. The share price total return was 3.1%. This represents continued progress in the recovery of the portfolio’s NAV which has increased by +29.2% in the twelve months to 31 October 2024, modestly ahead of the benchmark index’s return of +26.1% over the same period. Commenting on the performance, the managers noted: “The portfolio’s NAV performance lagged the stock market in the past six months for two key reasons. First, some very large businesses have found strong favour in markets based on their scale and technology advantages in an emerging era of artificial intelligence. We share that excitement. The company is invested in the likes of Microsoft, NVIDIA, Meta and Amazon. But we do not hold all the biggest businesses in this space, and in some cases hold them in smaller sizes than the index, and this has detracted from our relative returns. Those deliberate choices reflect the return opportunities we see elsewhere in the portfolio.”
• Schroder Capital Global Innovation Trust (INOV) has announced a new NAV of 20.14p as at end September 2024, 4% lower than the end June figure. This was driven by downwards valuations to Ada Health and Bizongo, and the full write-off of Reaction Engines which entered administration, offset by a write up of Revolut. The company has committed to hold a continuation vote at its 2025 Annual General Meeting, which is currently scheduled for May 2025. The board has determined, following a shareholder consultation exercise, to bring forward the continuation vote in order to provide clarity on the future of the company at the earliest opportunity. The company will make no further new investments pending the outcome of this continuation vote, although further investment in existing holdings is permitted, subject to Board approval. If the continuation vote does not pass, it is proposed that the company will enter into managed wind-down with any cash proceeds from realisations being returned to shareholders over time. Any managed wind-down will reflect the illiquid nature of the portfolio, with realisations being made at an appropriate time in the life cycle of each investment in order to maximise returns for shareholders. It is expected that a circular will be posted to shareholders in January 2025, containing further details of the continuation vote and the nature of any managed wind down, should the continuation vote not pass. [This only accelerates things by a couple of months, which makes me wonder how useful it is, but the urgency suggests that the board has been told that investors are anxious to get their money back.]

We also have annual results for Finsbury Growth & Income.