Ecofin Global Utilities ... Share Discussion Threads

[income investor] 08/9/2023 17:34

NAV seems to be reasonably OK and holdings all quoted, so discount seems unwarranted to me. Happy to continue to hold!

[dickiehhh] 08/9/2023 13:31

Very big discount here atm. Can't see why given performance over the past two years or so

[riverman77] 04/7/2023 21:28

I've followed this for a while - yes it did trade at a 10-15% discount a few years ago, but has traded close to NAV since 2019 after it was tipped by Ian Cowie (who I don't particularly rate, but he seems to have an effect on this one).
I'm really treating this as a short term trade on the expectation the discount tightens again. If you look at the discount chart on Hargreaves Landowne, the recent widening looks a blip and suspect it could reverse.
However, it looks a decent fund in its own right. Relative performance is very good - ahead of all the various utility & infrastructure sectors over nearly all periods (see the factsheet). I also checked it agaisnt the OEICS in the infrastructure sector and it is ahead of all of them. I suspect the managers know what they're doing and should be able to avoid the most indebted companies.
Obviously sensitive to bond yields, but think these could fall back, which could give a boost to the sector.

[daveoz1] 04/7/2023 19:01

Yeah I hope you're right, riverman77. I'm just sort of waiting for the flippin' price to stop dropping for a day or two then I might take the plunge and buy some!

[riverman77] 04/7/2023 10:47

Good trading opportunity opened up here - this has typically traded around NAV but currently on a 10% discount. Long term performance is strong and well ahead of all the utility/infrastructure indices over most periods. Obviously rising bond yields have been a headwind recently but expect these to gradually come down as inflation eases and growth slows.

[dickiehh] 20/6/2023 12:19

Probably a large seller last couple of days. It seems to go through short periods when it trades at a discount but then this closes quickly. Utilities in general though have been affected by competition with five percent government bond yields

[daveoz1] 20/6/2023 10:02

Does anyone know why EGL has dropped so much since April, and dropping more today?

[dickiehh] 03/2/2023 13:01

Looks to me like there was a big seller this morning, perhaps looking to offload and raise some cash - doesn't appear to be based on fundamentals, NAV is holding up and utility shares today look fine

[lozzer69] 03/2/2023 12:14

Any ideas why share price is going South quite rapidly??

[petewy] 22/7/2022 10:50

Back to highs. Any reason?

[petewy] 19/5/2022 09:50

Results looking good?

[spectoacc] 06/4/2022 15:32

Be interested to hear what you buy @topvest - still a lot of dry powder here but been dipping toe in lately, will send you a message.

[topvest] 06/4/2022 15:30

Thanks - it turned out well in the end. 10% per annum is my hurdle. It was looking a very poor investment at one stage, so pleased with the end outcome. Lots of opportunities out there at the moment, but possibly more soon. I suspect there may be some nervousness ahead of the early May interest rate decisions as the Fed and BoE will need to take quite a bit of action. Maybe a 0.5% increase on the way, given no decisions in April?

[tonytyke2] 06/4/2022 11:23

Good luck topinvest with your future investments, You have obviously been here a very long time.

There is obviously a rotation into more defensive positions taking place at the moment. I also hold treasury stocks, bonds and the likes of infrastructure funds etc. However, trying to pick up a value defensive with discount to NAV is now so difficult. Look at most of the decent infrastructure funds, they all to seem to be over 10% premium to NAV, which I am not willing to pay.

I have been growing my position here at NAV discount over the past 3 months but note that today like you say, due to demand, the stock now crossed slightly to a premium to share price this morning, but still offers around 3.6% div. To be honest, if I had held this defensive stock position for 10 years like you, and doubled my money, I would personally be fairly pleased with around 10% per annum. However, we all have our different perceptions on good and poor performance.

Anyway best of luck, let us know if you find a decent place for your re-investment.

TT

[topvest] 06/4/2022 10:41

Well done on the ER spin-out. One of the few I suspect!

[spectoacc] 06/4/2022 10:30

Realising CGT allowance early in the tax year @topvest ;)

Agree with your points, not a holder currently. Tho did do very well on the ER R spin-out, thanks to averaging and selling out before the final suspension. Feels like ancient history now.

[topvest] 06/4/2022 10:26

I have sold out today. Ecofin certainly hasn't been a great ride over more than a decade or so, with the EF Realisation spin-out and poor performance. Recently things have been much better, but I tend to think that's probably more down to a sector shift. They are now on a premium and have a low yield, so a 2+bagger seemed a good opportunity to exit a low conviction holding. Good luck to those remaining.

[steve3sandal] 20/2/2021 10:14

I think that sensible things are going down as they are viewed as defensive bond proxies which the wise don’t want to hold if interest rates go up. Instead cyclical reopening fancies are going up. It’s just Mr Market. I don’t hold at the moment. I did when this was at a discount and sold when it closed. If the share price weakens much more than the NAV it will look interesting again.

[nerja] 20/2/2021 09:47

Nav was 199.45 on the 11th January , it now stands at 180.24 as of the 19th nav update. The share price has followed down it by similar amounts, they are still issuing more equity, what the hell going on with them, the £ has gone up from 136p to 140p over the same time scale , so that does not explain the large drop in nav?

[18bt] 13/1/2021 09:46

What a fantastic performer this trust has been.

[18bt] 06/4/2020 19:22

A few other companies in EGL’s universe have communicated on their dividends andweareadjustingourownforecaststoo. There is a high probability of a delay for some dividends –given several companies have announced the postponement of their AGMs and this will likely trigger the postponement of dividend payments too –but we believe a majority of portfolio holdings will still be able to pay their dividends before the end of September (EGL’s fiscal year-end). The risk to dividends in EGL’s portfolio should be amongst companies highly exposed to industrial contracts (e.g., environmental service groups) and for transportation infrastructure groups (roads and airports). For these names, we have reduced our base-case assumptions for dividends for this year and have trimmed (Suez) or exited (Veolia) some positions. While utilities –especially regulated businesses butalso many diversified integrated ones–should not need to alter their dividend policies as cash flow/debt service payments and dividend cover ratios are generally comfortable, there is nonetheless sufficient uncertainty in the business outlook for caution. Also, as we are seeing in France, political intervention to suppress dividends in certain sectors/companies, including where the state is a shareholder, is becoming a factor: EDF’s and Engie’s dividends for 2019 (due to be paid in 2020) have just been cancelled. Taking all of this in to account, we expect to implement some further changes to the portfolio to preserve the level of dividend income receipts this year.

[emptyglass] 06/4/2020 19:03

Note the paragraph on dividends in the March portfolio update.

[shauney2] 28/2/2020 12:26

Well i sold this at 140 something a while ago.Regretted ever since.When to buy again is the problem.

[18bt] 28/2/2020 11:05

Amazing how quickly this has moved out to a 7-8% discount.