Athelney Trust PLC Net Asset Value(s) (5630I)
April 02 2020 - 3:42AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMATY
RNS Number : 5630I
Athelney Trust PLC
02 April 2020
Athelney Trust PLC
Legal Entity Identifier:
213800ON67TJC7F4DL05
The unaudited net asset value of Athelney Trust was 191.7p at 31
March 2020.
Fund Manager's comment for March 2020
The COVID-19 coronavirus continued to hammer financial markets
in March as the virus spread to the US and across the globe. The
economic carnage produced by the abrupt shutdown of economic
activity across the world is evident from the weekly unemployment
claims in the US. In the period prior to the outbreak, jobless
claims had declined to their lowest levels in sixty years. In the
second week of March claims increased suddenly to 282,000 and then
sky rocketed to a record 3.3 million during the week ended March
21. As bad as these figures are, the numbers are likely to climb
even higher next week.
This hibernation of the world's economy was reflected in the
major world stock markets as represented by the MSCI World Index
and the S&P 500 which continued to fall, with both indices
dropping in February by 13.5% and 12.5% respectively. The UK,
European and Asian markets reacted in similar fashion. In the UK,
the FTSE 100 was down by 13.8% in local currency terms while the
indices associated with smaller companies fared much worse. The
Small Cap Index declined by 20.8%, the AIM All Share Index was down
by 21.7% and the Fledgling Index was down by 25.3%.
While our portfolio of investments declined in similar fashion
to that of the overall market, it performed better than the small
to midcap segment of the market, declining by 18.8% during the
month which, after allowing for the expenses resulted in a decline
of 22.6% in the NAV. When analysing the underlying performance of
the portfolio it is interesting to note that the non-REIT component
of the portfolio declined by only 14% with overall performance
dragged down by the REIT exposure. It would appear that the REIT's
have been under additional price pressure due to the selling by
open-ended property funds. These funds have used exposures to
listed REITs, rather than extra cash, to provide liquidity for
excessive redemptions so as to retain an exposure to property. This
is evidenced by a recent RNS announcement by Tritax BigBox (BBOX)
where Aviva (a closed open-ended property fund) announced that it
had reduced its holding.
We sold our holdings in Biffa, VP and Marston's, utilising the
proceeds and some of our surplus cash to add to our position in
Costain, Jarvis, Boohoo, Rightmove, JD Sports and T Clark. Cash
currently comprises 7.9% of the portfolio
Fact Sheet
An accompanying fact sheet which includes the information above
as well as wider details on the portfolio can be found on the
Fund's website www.athelneytrust.co.uk under "Portfolio
Details".
Background Information
Dr. Emmanuel (Manny) Pohl
Manny is Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of E C Pohl &
Co ("ECP"), an investment management company and has been a major
shareholder in Athelney trust for many years.
E C Pohl & co is licensed by the Australian Financial
services (licence no.421704).
www.ecpohl.com
www.ecpam.com
Manny Pohl and the ECP group has over AU$1000m under its
management including four listed investment companies, three listed
in Australia and one in the UK:
-- Flagship Investments (ASX code:FSI)
AUD56m https://flagshipinvestments.com.au
-- Barrack St Investments (ASX code: BST)
AUD25m www.barrackst.com
-- Global Masters Fund Limited (ASX code: GFL)
AUD27m www.globalmastersfund.com.au
-- Athelney Trust plc (LSE code: ATY)
GBP5m www.athelneytrust.co.uk
Athelney Trust plc Investment Policy
The investment objective of the Trust is to provide shareholders
with prospects of long-term capital growth with the risks inherent
in small cap investment minimised through a spread of holdings in
quality small cap companies that operate in various industries and
sectors. The Fund Manager also considers that it is important to
maintain a progressive dividend record.
The assets of the Trust are allocated predominantly to companies
with either a full listing on the London Stock Exchange or a
trading facility on AIM or ISDX. The assets of the Trust have been
allocated in two main ways: first, to the shares of those companies
which have grown steadily over the years in terms of profits and
dividends but, despite this progress, the market rating is
favourable when compared to future earnings and dividends; second,
to those companies whose shares are standing at a favourable level
compared with the value of land, buildings or cash in the balance
sheet.
Athelney Trust was founded in 1994. In 1996 it was one of the
ten pioneer members of the Alternative Investment Market ("AIM").
In 2008 the shares became fully listed on the main market of the
London Stock Exchange. Athelney Trust has a successful progressive
dividend growth record and the dividend has grown every year since
2004. According to the Association of Investment Companies (AIC)
Athelney Trust is one of only "22 investment companies that have
increased their dividend every year between 10 and 20 years - the
next generation of dividend heroes" (as at 20/03/2018). See
link
www.theaic.co.uk/aic/news/press-releases/next-generation-of-dividend-heroes
Website
www.athelneytrust.co.uk
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
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