Abrdn Diversified Income... Share Discussion Threads

[hugepants] 19/11/2020 18:29

They have indeed cranked up the size of the buybacks

[essentialinvestor] 18/11/2020 19:13

Looking at the last gearing disclouse it reads 5.5% net cash.

I can't reconcile that with their outstanding net debt,

some of which they are buying back.

Can anyone clarify, thanks.

[tiltonboy] 18/11/2020 19:01

Makes a change from the ridiculous 50k daily purchases. Hopefully, this marks the start of a serious buy-back.

[hugepants] 18/11/2020 07:37

I suspect its pretty accurate and you can probably get daily prices for most of the portfolio ie.

15.4% of the portfolio:

14.6% of the portfolio:

top ten are here which can all be priced


And the EM bonds will have a daily price etc etc

[essentialinvestor] 17/11/2020 21:28

How accurate is current NAV given some of what they hold?.

[hugepants] 17/11/2020 21:11

Looking at the 5 year charts on the HL website the discount here is usually in the 5%-10% range. So the current 20% discount is at least twice the norm.

Also fyi from the June interims;

Discount management policy

The Company's discount management policy seeks to maintain the Company's share price discount to NAV (calculated excluding income, with debt at fair value) below 5%, subject to normal market conditions. Unfortunately, as explained in the Investment Manager's Report, we were not in anything like normal market conditions. As the pandemic worries took hold and investor concerns multiplied through March, the Company's share price fell sharply which resulted in the discount (calculated with debt at fair value) widening from 7.6% at 30 September 2019 to 12.1% at 31 March 2020.

During the period, the Company bought back 3.1 million shares into treasury at a cost of £3.4 million. The Board will continue to monitor the discount and buy back shares in support of the discount management policy (or undertake share issuance if required) when it believes it is in the best interests of shareholders, whilst also having regard to the prevailing gearing level and the composition of the Company's portfolio.

[wunderbar] 17/11/2020 21:01

I've been meaning to comment on this thread for ages and now finally getting round to it. This stock comes in for a lot of flack but I'm actually a big fan. Why? Because it's boring as hell, decidedly dull, it just keeps plodding on and pays a generous dividend, currently c.6%. I've bought multiple tranches of this stock ranging from 84p to 109p, first in 2016 (when it was known as British Assets Trust / BlackRock Income Strategies Trust) and the rest in past 12 months including today @ 90p. My average is c.97p so slightly down but nothing to be overly concerned about.

During many months of Covid induced volatility ADIG has actually been the rock of my portfolio, star performer in terms of resilience/stability - unlike certain other stocks I own which saw values plummet 50-80% before recovering on vaccine news. And not to mention ADIG has continued paying quarterly dividends throughout Covid/Lockdown whereas many blue chip stocks suspended payments altogether this year.

I understand a longstanding issue with this trust is poor capital growth over the years. It's true many other trust's have seen good/stellar growth in past 10 years (pre Covid crash) whilst ADIG has suffered significant capital erosion during same period. I hasten to add timing is crucial, anyone buying at top of cycle will always inevitably suffer. This snippet recently caught my eye, courtesy of Citywire/Numis (28 October) "ADIG NAV total returns have been 4% over the last three years, versus 24% for the MSCI AC World index". Needless to say the trust's Fund Managers have failed miserably during this time.

This is one of the oldest trust's around, formed in 1898! I Googled ADIG's share price chart over maximum period dating back to March 1995 when share price was 87p, fast forward 25 years and today it's just 90p. Tells its own story - this is purely an income stock thanks to the perennially generous dividend rather than a capital growth stock. Mind you if you tallied up all the dividends over the years that'd be quite a sum.

On a final note some of you asked why the share price dropped sharply today, at one point falling 5.4% or 5p @ 88p before slight recovery. Quite remarkable given it briefly touched 96p first thing in morning (thus falling 8% in just a few hours - and there's me saying this stock has been stable!). Whilst I couldn't find a specific reason I did go on to discover approximately 15 of the top 20 fallers today were Investment Trusts, so it's definitely sector related. Come tomorrow if there's a continuation of this downward pressure I might consider topping up again.

[tiltonboy] 17/11/2020 19:42

As a minimum, they should put a bi-ennial Tender in place at a 2% discount, giving a liquidity event.

[rich1952] 17/11/2020 17:54

I agree. I wish they would call it a day. Nobody seems to be able to make this fund work.

[tiltonboy] 17/11/2020 17:45

It doesn't look as if Aberdeen announced any NAV's for its funds today.

75k bought back.

I had a VC with Nalaka Da Silva, and Tony Foster a couple of weeks ago, after I told the broker it should be wound up. Nalaka put a strong case for the new portfolio, but shareholders continue to vote with their feet.

[hugepants] 17/11/2020 17:24

Apart from, as you say, no NAV announcement!

[rich1952] 17/11/2020 17:12

Nothing too sinister then! Thanks.

[tiltonboy] 17/11/2020 16:58

An algo was smashing the bid all afternoon. Its been happening to a number of IT'S today

[rich1952] 17/11/2020 16:27

I was wondering that and it's not ex-div and there has been no NAV RNS today which is almost unheard of!

[hugepants] 17/11/2020 15:55

Anyone know why this dog is down 5.4%?

At current price of 89.8p the discount is 20.5%, yield is 6.1% and it has net cash of 5.5% as per today's gearing disclosure

[essentialinvestor] 09/11/2020 16:55

Not that easy- substantial private equity investments now.

[hindsight] 09/11/2020 16:49

Think better thing than windup is to hand the management over to Ballie Gifford. Then they will go from discount to premium and us value leaning investors can depart while the growth come in

[hugepants] 26/10/2020 22:06

tilton Hopefully they have a plan. I noticed the discount was widening even more recently. In fact it was 10% pre-covid whereas now its 20%. Other investment trusts I've looked at are pretty much on the same discount as at the beginning of the year. The yield is good, well above average, so the shares are cheap.

[tiltonboy] 26/10/2020 15:45

HP,

I had a frank exchange with the manager last week, and left them in no doubt about my thoughts. It appears I wasn't the first!

It's Private Investments, not Private Equity. Obviously some of that could turn out to be PE.

NAV has been steadily rising over the last few weeks, but the share price needs to start following it up.

[hugepants] 26/10/2020 10:36

This is the biggest investment at 15% of the portfolio. Down 5% on the year so far.

MI TwentyFour Investment funds - Asset Backed Opportunities Fund

[hugepants] 22/10/2020 14:10

So selling assets to buy back bonds to reduce gearing from 24% to 6%. Since they'll be selling the more liquid assets then private equity holdings likely to increase to over 50%. Sounds ok.
The discount to NAV currently is over 21% and yield is 6%

[tiltonboy] 21/10/2020 10:13

Should be wound up. From British Assets, through Black Rock, into Aberdeen, it's been a poisoned chalice for too long....and dont get me started on the DCM!

[essentialinvestor] 21/10/2020 09:39

Might look the other way given the record here.

[panshanger1] 21/10/2020 09:35

Interesting RNS this am regarding gearing and strategy Not currently holding but added to watch list

[hugepants] 04/8/2020 09:17

Take your point on unlisted investments but it looks a pretty decent investment to me under the covid circumstances. Well diversified over several asset classes. Its yielding 6.25% and at a 21% discount currently.

fyi latest factsheet: