North Atlantic Smaller C... Share Discussion Threads

[davebowler] 15/12/2023 16:45

hTTps://citywire.com/investment-trust-insider/news/veteran-activist-investor-chris-mills-joins-hipgnosis-songs-board/a2432689?

[p1nkfish] 14/12/2023 16:24

Possible interesting month end.
10 month EMA crosses 20 month EMA = tendency to run.
Looking close. Monthly EMA MACD Cross has occurred but quite negative, better if it wasn't.
TBD as to outcome but better looking than it has been for a while.

[p1nkfish] 06/12/2023 19:49

Agreed.
Let's see if we hold > £40. 4038 and 4060 two interesting levels as weekly close targets to beat.

[steve3sandal] 06/12/2023 18:48

I get it,…but I’m puzzled why it goes without investigation.

I’m a firm believer/holder, 2010, £10 something, with some trading so delighted with the Mills compounding. Seems like sonny is an heir apparent and there’s a wider younger management team at Harwood so the blueprint should continue. Discount is a bit tighter than usual so I imagine the £40 mark will continue to be difficult to break. My inclination would be to sell a few here but the spread prevents me. Good luck all.

[p1nkfish] 06/12/2023 09:00

Lastly, also illustrates what value might be hidden elsewhere and the conservative valuation in NAS NAV to which an extra discount is also added by the market.

Mills and team will have a very decent cash pile to go hunting with.

[p1nkfish] 06/12/2023 08:25

As Mkt Cap rises so will a small amount of FTSE250 head here from trackers etc. Every little helps.

[p1nkfish] 06/12/2023 08:24

Will it be enough to breakout of this consolidation? Adding to the cash pile is good.

As for move yesterday, probably a load of people involved in this entire acquisition process and paperwork. Only takes a little buying to push this up so even a small leak can show up.

[steve3sandal] 06/12/2023 07:59

Shares traded up £1 after 1pm yesterday. This morning’s excellent announcement adds 83p to NAV. How/Why do some people get the news a day early?

Not a good look.

[p1nkfish] 17/11/2023 10:35

Good to see but really need a weekly close above 4060 before April and then we are likely free from the recent past.

[davebowler] 17/11/2023 09:34

The Board announces that as at 31 October 2023 the unaudited net asset value per share (excluding current period revenue) under the equity accounting method was 5,074.49.

[dickiehh] 15/11/2023 20:45

What do people think about the big rise this week?

[p1nkfish] 12/10/2023 06:16

Very decent return on Assisi Pet Care, 3x in 3 years. Investment made over 3 years so return on some on an annual basis is most impressive.

"On a look-through basis NASCIT invested £3.6m over the course of three years via a buy and build investment strategy and expects to receive at the closing, approximately £11m. This represents an uplift on the 30th June 2023 valuation of approximately £3.4m."

[jellypbean] 16/9/2023 19:11

Slightly pedantic of me probably, but it in Treasury bills, not bonds.

[1c3479z] 15/9/2023 21:04

ought to be cheap if the discount is about 28% but allowing for a quarter of the assets in cash/us treasury bonds as at the half year end,effective discount is of the order of 35%+.

[pvb] 15/9/2023 10:06

...Sigh!

As all the above is in the RNS release for this share, which is available via the News box at the head of this thread, could you not simply provide a URL to the document?

[davebowler] 15/9/2023 08:27

Chief executive's review

During the six months under review the net asset value fell by 1.2% due entirely to the fall in the dollar relative to sterling of 4.4%. The Standard & Poors Dollar Adjusted Index rose almost entirely due to seven large megacaps to which the portfolio had no exposure.

Performance compared against appropriate UK indices where the majority of the portfolio is invested remains favourable.

The Trust reported net income for the period of GBP4,615,000 (2022 GBP462,000 loss). Consistent with prior years, no dividend is being declared at this stage although the Board intends to declare an interim dividend in February when the results for the year become clearer. Based on current expectations, it is anticipated that dividends in respect of the financial year ending January 2024 will comfortably exceed that paid in respect of fiscal 2023.

During the six month period the Trust purchased approximately 95,000 shares for cancellation at a discount to NAV of approximately 25%. This policy which is ongoing increased the net asset value for all long term shareholders and helped to modestly reduce the discount compared to the end January 2023 net asset value at a time when many other trusts, particularly those with unquoted holdings, have seen a significant widening.

quoted portfolio

The market for quoted investments has been particularly tough over the past six months as evidenced by the weakness in the various small cap indices. The reasons for this are numerous but can be summed up as follows: weak economic growth, rising interest rates and very significant redemptions in small cap funds with negligible retail demand. It is therefore pleasing to note that the quoted portfolio significantly outperformed falling by about 3%.

Oryx and Odyssean taken together rose modestly, helped in particular by encouraging performance in Oryx. The Trust's stand out success stories were NIOX which rose by 75% following multiple earnings upgrades and Sureserve rising over 40% following a successful takeover.

The principal disappointment was EKF which fell 30% as the business repositions itself post COVID. Fund management stocks were also disappointing with Assetco in particular notably weak. In the United States Mountain Commerce fell 35% following turmoil in the banking industry. Despite the fall the bank continues to perform well with negligible bad debt.

unquoted portfolio

Despite industry wide concerns relating to unquoted investments, the portfolio continued to perform well during the period mainly due to our zero exposure to technology stocks. Taken as a whole, the unquoted portfolio added approximately GBP7m to the value of the Fund with the standout performance coming from Spring (following outstandingly good results) +80% and Harwood Private Equity V +8%.

Taken as a whole, the private equity funds continue to perform well and should create further uplifts combined with significant cash inflow into the Trust during the balance of the year.

conclusion

At the end of June 2023 the Trust had approximately GBP107m in cash broadly in line with the January 2023 position despite the weakness in the dollar. We continue to believe that there is significant value in our portfolio which should be well placed to weather the very difficult economic environment facing the UK.

A number of our unquoteds are in a sale process which should support increases in both net asset value per share and liquidity as the year progresses.

Finally, the Trust's substantial cash reserves will enable it to benefit from a more benign investing environment in the future.

C H B Mills

Chief Executive

14 September 2023

top ten investments as at 31 July 2023


Fair
value % of
GBP'000 net assets
----------------------------------------- ------------------- --------- ------------
Oryx International Growth Fund Limited* UK Listed 81,494 12.2
US Treasury Bills US Treasury Stock 80,612 12.1
Harwood Private Equity Fund V LP UK Unquoted 49,015 7.4
Polar Capital Holdings plc UK Quoted on AIM 33,950 5.1
Hargreaves Services Plc UK Quoted on AIM 29,903 4.5
Ten Entertainment Group plc UK Listed 29,500 4.4
EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc UK Quoted on AIM 25,680 3.9
Odyssean Investment Trust Plc UK Listed 25,440 3.8
Niox Group UK Listed 25,350 3.8
MJ Gleeson Group plc UK Listed 23,045 3.5
--------- ------------

403,989 60.7

[p1nkfish] 15/9/2023 06:25

Steady as she goes and better divi around Feb 2024.

[p1nkfish] 14/9/2023 16:28

Good turn on above average volume. Weren't results supposed to be out today?

[davebowler] 14/9/2023 15:56

North Atlantic Smlr Co Inv Tst PLC

14 September 2023

NORTH ATLANTIC SMALLER COMPANIES INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

The Board announces that as at 31 August 2023 the unaudited net asset value per share (excluding current period revenue) under the equity accounting method was 5,145.10.

The unaudited net asset value per share quoted above differs from that required under IFRS 10, which was adopted by the Company from 1 February 2014 as detailed in its Half Yearly Financial Report for the six months ended 31 July 2014. The unaudited net asset value per share (excluding current period revenue) under IFRS 10 was 4,896.16.

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 [e-mail] or visit www.rns.com.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Polic

[p1nkfish] 05/9/2023 08:05

Someone is harvesting a few, has the hallmarks.
Current TA suggests further to fall before a turn.

[p1nkfish] 05/9/2023 07:58

Carrs took a hit but I think bought for nuclear potential and short-term issues notcabig deal to Mills et al.

[steve3sandal] 05/9/2023 06:41

I’d be guessing that someone or something has been selling and NAS has been buying them back from MMs who don’t want to hold as they are not investors. Under £35 looks like the lowest price fir some time and probably nothing wrong with anything under the hood. I hold but I haven’t looked under the hood recently.

[p1nkfish] 05/9/2023 06:37

This price action and volume yesterday is a little concerning prior to earnings mid-Sept.
I hold and will continue to do so.

Got the expectation of a boost due to FTSE250 inclusion totally wrong unless what we have seen since then was/is it.

It will come out OK over the med-long term. Short-term a decent chance of more weakness in my opinion.

[dickiehhh] 04/9/2023 22:50

Thanks for the reply. Really weird share price behaviour though? Why down 10 percent over the last month? Most of its holdings such as OIT doing just fine. Anyone know fundamental reason why? Or is this just illiquidity? (Ie. An opportunity??)