Shires Smaller Companies Share Discussion Threads

[aleman] 06/4/2010 20:01

NAV 26/03/10 124.38p (inc. 1.15p acc. income)
Close 97.5p
Discount 21.6%
Yield 6.2%


SDV has jumped recently, narrowing its excessive discount back to around 11%. If SHD were to come back in to line as usual, it would be around 112p

[envirovision] 06/4/2010 12:40

LOL, i guess if you've been holding since last september onwards you can lose sight of that fact. hehe

NAV adds a penny so 20% discount+ per share, amazing:
Shires Smaller Companies Including income & debt fair value 123.38p

[aleman] 06/4/2010 11:55

Plasybryn - 6 Apr'10 - 10:37 - 246 of 247

Compared to the FTSE All Share Index, the shares performance since the lows have been pretty poor.

???

ASX up 60%. SHD NAV up 99%. SHD shares up 96%, despite current historically high discount of well over 20% today. These would be about 105-115p on a more normal discount which will probably return in a few days once the 100p psychological barrier breaks. That would be a 110% rise and way ahead of the All-share.

[envirovision] 06/4/2010 11:42

I cant predict the future, but having taken a look at the entire portfolio, it looks pretty solid and some of those holdings certainly have massive upside potential without doubt. Just a guess but as soon as a couple of those start outperforming, we might and i say might get some market confidence in the trust and the discount to nav could play catch up to its peers. IMO lets give it time and see.

[plasybryn] 06/4/2010 11:37

Compared to the FTSE All Share Index, the shares performance since the lows have been pretty poor. Shires Income and European Assets Trust (EAT) have done better. Do you put it down to poor investment management? Can we expect better things going forward?

[envirovision] 06/4/2010 11:20

Bought 2 lots of 2.5K today. Cant really see a reason for a massive discount to nav. The fixed income part of the holding provides yeild and stability and the stock goes x divi in a few days so i have taken the plunge to add to my isa.

[envirovision] 01/4/2010 08:42

Hi just looking around at some options. A large disc to nav seems to be a permenant feature here having gone back over history seems to range from 15-25% typical. Do you know why? The yeilds not as good as say sdv, are you expecting things to drastically improve any time soon for the yeild? LKastly i've seen a few posters complain about the fund management in charge, do you know why that might be? thanks.

[rogerbridge] 01/4/2010 08:18

Coming in to my top up area. Wide discount and very good dividend.

[aleman] 29/3/2010 15:01

NAV 26/03/10 122.65p (inc. 1.25p acc. income)
Close 99p
Discount 19.3%
Yield 6.1%

[aleman] 26/3/2010 13:09

Will be glad when we get £1 sellers out of the way. Discount now nearly 20% with NAV over 122p.

[aleman] 26/3/2010 10:38

26 March 2010

Shires Smaller Companies plc

The Board of Shires Smaller Companies plc has declared a first interim dividend
of 1.5p per share in respect of the year to 31 December 2010 (first interim
2009: 1.75p) payable on 30 April 2010 to shareholders on the register at close
of business on 9 April 2010.

[aleman] 22/3/2010 15:53

NAV 16/03/10 120.97p (inc. 1.23p acc. income)
Close 99p
DIscount 18.2%
Yield 6.1%

[aleman] 19/3/2010 11:57

Manager's Monthly Report
March 2010


Smaller companies gave back some of January's gains with the FTSE SmallCap (ex Investment Companies) declining 2.3%. The Trust relatively outperformed the Index over the period with NAV declining a more moderate 1.1%. February saw a number of the Trust's holdings report full year results which were generally in-line or ahead of market expectations. There has been a moderate recovery in the second half of the year but cost cutting was the major driver of the results. There was a feeling, however, that most of this was priced into the market so the share price reactions were muted at best, especially where expectations were beaten. On a more positive note though the Trust saw a number of double digit dividend increases, which are a welcome respite after the cuts of the last couple of years. Eurozone economic data remained sluggish with fourth quarter GDP rising 0.1% quarter-onquarter, down on the 0.4% recorded in the third quarter. The situation in Greece worsened with increasing opposition in Germany to the bailout. This has weighed on the euro and puts a cloud of uncertainty over the region until a clear bailout package, and fiscal plan can be agreed. Closer to home the Bank of England announced that it would not extend the programme of quantitative easing, but haven't ruled out future expansion should it be deemed necessary. Inflation also rose steeply to 3.5% but commentators believe this to be a short term phenomenon with this reverting below the 2% target as the year progresses. The Trust initiated a new holding in Forth Ports. They are the last listed UK ports business and with a large portion of their revenue contracted their revenue stream has remained resilient. Since the introduction they have declined two offers from Peel, in a consortium with other buyers to acquire the group. We also reduced a number of holdings that have performed well over the period, namely John Menzies, Fenner, McBride and TT Electronics. We added to Morgan Sindall, Numis and Rensburg Sheppards on recent weakness.

[aleman] 15/3/2010 14:07

NAV 12/03/10 120.65p (inc. 1.29p acc. income)
Close 100p
Discount 17.1%
Yield 6%

[aleman] 12/3/2010 12:36

Whay! 100p at last. Given NAV looks to have advanced past 120p today, we could see a jump to 110p to bring us into line with other trusts' discounts. Even if we keep the higher double figure discount, just falling back into line with the 10% market rise in the past 5 weeks should give 104p

[aleman] 08/3/2010 15:38

New 18-month high on NAV. Shares should break £1 soon.

[aleman] 05/3/2010 15:02

Just how high does NAV have to go to drag the shares over 100p? Today's stockmarket rises must have expanded the discount to about 18%.

[crawford] 02/3/2010 09:18

Hope so Aleman,
seems well run, but the gearing and borrowing seems somewhat restricted, hope it doesn't limit the upside.

[aleman] 01/3/2010 21:40

A bit disappointing that but probably explains why the discount to NAV has been high of late. Still, small caps have been turning in quite strong results so hopefully they are being a bit too cautious and will start off the year at 1.5p knowing they can add a bit to the final if all goes well.

[crawford] 01/3/2010 07:48

Dividend proposed as 6p this year.

[aleman] 04/2/2010 09:39

Shame they've sold McBride down to 2.2% from 3.4% in H2 2009. Interim dividend up 18% and shares up 2 or 3%. Still, it's good news and lots of smallcaps are producing strong numbers so they could have switched into something better.

[aleman] 27/1/2010 11:36

Manager's Monthly Report
January 2010

Shires Smaller Companies ended a turbulent year outperforming the Index over December with an NAV total return of 1.2% against the FTSE SmallCap (ex Investment Companies) Index which recorded a total return of 0.9%. There was little in the way of stock specific news to drive the markets through the month but there was a defensive bias to performance with smaller companies lagging their larger peers. The worst performing asset class over the period was Government All Stocks which fell 2.7%, highlighting fears over the winding down of quantitative easing and the state of Government finances. The pre-budget report offered very little in the way of anything tangible in terms of fiscal tightening. The Chancellor stuck to targets on GDP and borrowing forecasts which still hang on an optimistic outlook for the UK economy. The Bank of England left the base rate at 0.5% while CPI inflation came in marginally above expectations at 1.9%. In overseas markets US economic data remained mixed with unemployment data better than expected while GDP was revised sharply downward. The downgrading of Greece was one of the month's talking points as the economy struggles under one of Europe's largest debt burdens. We introduced Savills in early December following a period of weakness. The real estate consultant has seen earnings hit on the back of low transactions in commercial real estate which was in part offset by cost cutting, and a strong performance from property management. They have seen volumes pick up in residential, particularly in the South East, and with a net cash balance sheet remains well placed to take advantage of an international property recovery. We added to Umeco and Helical Bar and trimmed our position in British Polythene after a strong bounce. We remain cautious on the outlook but where valuations look attractive we will continue to deploy the cash from the previous month bond sales.

[davebowler] 21/1/2010 16:03

Yes,especially when you compare the discount to SDV

[crawford] 18/1/2010 16:35

Discount to NAV too high IMO, I would expect it to be moving to around 10% by now, a normalised margin for a trust fund.