QuotedData’s morning briefing 5 February 2025 – TPOU, RKW, MGCI, JEMA, CGL, DGN, OIG, CREI, AIRE, LABS, THRL, HGEN
In QuotedData’s morning briefing 5 February 2025:
- Third Point Investors has published its investor letter for Q4 2024. Third Point’s flagship Offshore Fund achieved a 9.1% gain in Q4 2024 and 24.2% for the full calendar year. Returns for the full year were driven by positive results across all strategies, including equities, corporate and structured credit, and privates. The top five positive contributors for the quarter were Siemens Energy AG, Amazon.com Inc., Tesla Inc., LPL Financial Holdings Inc., and Apollo Global Management Inc. The top five negative contributors for the quarter were Danaher Corp., Glencore PLC, Ferguson Enterprises Inc., Intercontinental Exchange Inc., and a short position. As market returns broadened out during the second half of the year, Third Point believes it was well positioned to take advantage, with successful rotation into consumer discretionary, financials and industrials names helping it to capture the upside of the post-US election rally. Moving forward, the manager believes that the intersection of economics and policy has made employing second-order thinking important, especially with regards to news headlines and policy declarations. Recent examples where nuanced analysis was required include the recent interest in DeepSeek, a Chinese AI assistant, and Donald Trump’s initial tariff pronouncements. Overall, Third Point expects the environment for investing in equities to continue to be favourable, with the caveat that there will likely be periodic dislocations caused by the unconventional approach of this Administration in conveying and enacting policy that affects markets and the economy. The investment manager remains optimistic about the sectors that will benefit from certain of these policies, as well as an increase in M&A and other corporate activity which supports its event-driven framework. Third Point’s manager has also outlined its view on the macroeconomic environment as well as several portfolio positions, including Brookfield, Live Nation, Siemens Energy, and Pacific Gas & Electric. It also provided updates on the corporate credit and structured credit portfolios, as well as the recent acquisition of AS Birch Grove, a diversified alternative credit fund manager.
- Richard Staveley, the lead manager of Rockwood Strategic (RKW), purchased 30,099 RKW shares at 262.56p share and his wife, Mrs Suzanne Staveley, also purchased 8,056 shares at the same price. Following the purchases, Mr Staveley, together with his connected persons, has interests in 407,160 RKW shares, equivalent to 1.07% of RKW’s issued share capital.
- M&G Credit Income (MGCI) has published a circular and notice of general meeting at which it will ask shareholders to approve the allotment of up to 20% of its issued share capital in total – comprising authorities of two lots of 10% – as the authorities granted at the 2024 AGM are fully exhausted and there continues to be strong demand for its shares.
- Nicholas Pink stood down from the board of JPMorgan Emerging EMEA Securities (JEMA) for personal reasons on 4 February 2025.
- Castelnau Group (CGL) has published its investment report for Q4 2024. It says that the quarter saw key strategic progress, including Dignity launching a sale-and-leaseback transaction and completing its acquisition of Farewill (both completing in January); Hornby divesting LCD (which owned Oxford Diecast) and announcing the move of its logistics operation to the Midlands; Stanley Gibbons Baldwins (SGB) being reissued with the Royal Warrant and partnering with VeVe to launch a digital Penny Black; Iona Star making its first investment post formal launch; and Cambium finding innovative ways to improve efficiencies while maintaining its customer experience. In terms of financial performance/KPIs, Dignity grew EBITDA by 13% in 2024, SGB beat its forecast business plan for FY24, and Hornby’s sales to 31 December were 8% above the same period as last year – 10% at gross profit level. Rawnet’s final quarter was strong across both new business and account management, and since Christmas, Cambium is seeing registrations approximately 25% ahead of the prior year. CGL’s manager says that, whilst there is still much to do, there are reasons to be optimistic about the strategic and financial progress it is making.
- At its first general meeting in connection with its proposals for a voluntary wind up and combination with Invesco Asia Trust (IAT), Asia Dragon (DGN) shareholders overwhelmingly approved the resolutions put to them (99.9% of votes cast on a turnout of 67.9%).
- On 30 January 2025, Mr Nicholas Mills, a person closely associated with Mr Christopher Mills, a director of Oryx International Growth (OIG), purchased a further 2,000 OIG shares at a price of 1,116.4p per share.
- Custodian Property Income REIT (CREI) posted a 0.9% uplift in NAV to 94.4p in the quarter to 31 December 2024, equating to a NAV total return of 2.5%. The value of the company’s portfolio at the quarter end was £586.4m, a like-for-like increase of 0.5%. EPRA earnings were steady at 1.5p, fully covering its quarterly dividend of 1.5p.
- Alternative Income REIT (AIRE) reported a 0.8% increase in NAV to 81.9p per share over the quarter to 31 December 2024. When combined with the 1.55p dividend paid in the quarter, this equates to a NAV total return for the quarter of 2.7%. The dividend was 110.3% covered by earnings.
- Life Science REIT (LABS) has let 5,100 sq ft of fully fitted lab space at Rolling Stock Yard, located in the heart of London’s Knowledge Quarter, to CFDX Ltd, a precision neuroscience company that uses AI to detect dementia earlier than traditional methods. CFDX has signed an eight-year lease with a break after four years for the first floor, and are paying a rent of £110 per sq ft, taking occupancy at Rolling Stock Yard to 100%.
- Target Healthcare REIT (THRL) posted a 0.9% uplift in EPRA net tangible assets (NTA) to 112.7p in the quarter to the end of December, reflecting a 0.9% like-for-like valuation increase driven by the portfolio’s inflation-linked rent reviews. Adjusted EPRA earnings for the quarter was 1.59p, fully covering the quarterly dividend of 1.471p. The NAV total return was 2.2% for the quarter.
- HydrogenOne Capital Growth (HGEN) has published its NAV and portfolio for Q4 2024. It says that its Nav per share was 90.39p – 12.2% lower than 31 December 2023 (102.99p) and 10.3% lower than 30 September 2024 (100.81p) – and includes the write off of HH2E (8.4p per share at 30 September 2024). The remaining portfolio continues to perform in line with investment adviser expectations. HGEN’s Private portfolio companies delivered an aggregate £85m in total revenue in the 12 months to 31 December 2024, an increase of 11% compared to the 12 months to 31 December 2023, and an increased run-rate compared to 30 September 2024, driven by supply chain demand. HGEN says that continued momentum in portfolio companies, with additional equipment orders and funding at Sunfire, Elcogen and HiiROC, is underpinning NAV growth for shareholders. HGEN had cash of £3.1m as at 31 December 2024, including divestment proceeds from Gen2 Energy, which completed in the fourth quarter of 2024. HGEN’s adviser, HydrogenOne Capital LLP, agreed to sell its business to a wholly owned subsidiary of Cordiant Capital Inc, a specialist global infrastructure and real assets manager.
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