Witan Investment Share Discussion Threads

[2wild] 16/10/2024 13:51

Received cash in my II account this afternoon. 278.36333p per Share.

[c3479z] 15/10/2024 14:48

I'm told it's around 278p

[2wild] 15/10/2024 13:36

Still no Cash at interactive investor. Does anyone know the amount per share due?

[jeffian] 15/10/2024 09:18

Yes, my new shares in HL account on 11/10.

[oggyrocks] 14/10/2024 19:57

Still nothing showing with Barclays. Anybody got the news shares yet ?

[ianood] 14/10/2024 14:44

Cash still outstanding at H.L.

[jeffian] 10/10/2024 14:52

I think that (cash) comes on the 14th.

[2wild] 10/10/2024 14:04

I was going to post. Expect they will arrive any time between now and the closer play tomorrow with II.

Then I remembered I'm only getting cash.

[jeffian] 10/10/2024 09:31

New shares supposed to be credited to our accounts today, but no sign of them yet. Witan shares have disappeared though!

8-(

[oggyrocks] 07/10/2024 07:50

Have my holding with Barclays, and no sign of new shares yet.

Anybody else have the new shares ?

[2wild] 05/10/2024 18:59

100% cash allocation in respect of my holding.

Results of Scheme Elections
In connection with the proposals for the combination of the assets of Witan Investment Trust plc (the "Company") with Alliance Trust PLC ("ATST") (to be renamed Alliance Witan PLC), by means of a scheme of reconstruction and winding up of the Company under section 110 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (the "Scheme"), the Board is pleased to announce the following Elections in connection with the Scheme:

· Rollover Option: 538,482,637 Shares (90.7 per cent. of Ordinary Shares (excluding treasury shares) in issue)

· Cash Option: 55,416,014 Shares (9.3 per cent. of Ordinary Shares (excluding treasury shares) in issue)

In accordance with the Scheme, Ordinary Shareholders that made no Election have been deemed to have elected for the Rollover Option. Excluded Shareholders have been deemed to have elected for the Cash Option.
As the total Elections made for the Cash Option were less than 17.5 per cent of the Ordinary Shares (excluding treasury shares) in issue (being the maximum number of Ordinary Shares that can be elected for the Cash Option), no scale back has been applied and all valid Elections will be satisfied in full.

Therefore, the Ordinary Shares will be reclassified as follows:

· 538,482,637 Reclassified Shares with "A" rights, being the right to receive New ATST Shares

· 55,416,014 Reclassified Shares with "B" rights, being the right to receive cash

Applications have been made to the FCA and to the London Stock Exchange for the Ordinary Shares to be reclassified for listing purposes with effect from 8.00 a.m. on 3 October 2024. The listing of, and dealings in, the Company's Reclassified Shares are subsequently expected to be suspended at 7.30 a.m. on 9 October 2024.
The cancellation of listings of the Reclassified Shares and the Preference is expected to occur on 10 October 2024.

[2wild] 30/9/2024 14:40

Extremely quiet here. Considering it's almost completed a merger into Alliance Trust , with 17.5% cash exit near NAV.

[robertball] 26/6/2024 07:17

Brilliant news and exactly as foretold by the FT

[vacendak] 08/4/2024 07:52

Looks like people have had enough.





Not sure what would be the best exit plan though. The previous change of strategy for Witan Pacific (WPC) was to become China only with BGCG and that eventually crashed badly. They could still keep the same strategy with a better manager since Alliance (ATST) seems to be doing okay.

[sharesoc] 25/3/2024 14:47

ShareSoc is hosting a webinar with Witan Investment Trust #WTAN on 25 April 2024, 4:30pm which may be of interest to current shareholders or potential investors. James Hart, Investment Director will present an overview of Witan Investment Trust and a review of 2023. The presentation will last approximately 30 mins followed by a 30 mins Q&A, where you can ask direct questions.
To register:

[vacendak] 30/12/2023 14:37

Doing a bad copy/paste from the November factsheet:


3m 6m 1yr 3yrs 5yrs 10yrs
NAV-Benchmark Relative -2.4 -4.2 -1.3 -9.7 -21.8 -18.4

And they show the NAV, which usually looks better than the share price
I am usually in the camp of active funds and sneer at ETFs/trackers, but in this case I must admit that a pedestrian tracker of their so-called composite benchmark - they are not even able to find a mix to flatter their results! - would beat WTAN.

So, indeed: "What is the point of Witan?"

[robertball] 28/12/2023 09:24

Gmo climate change is a 2% drag

[vacendak] 03/7/2023 08:48

Good question about WTAN now being at 40% of the original share number.

The excuses for underperformance are boiler plate: "When one drives a car, they look ahead, not in the rear-view mirror" and other platitudes.

Good video otherwise, good questions and decent grilling.

As noted above, I have exited WTAN a while ago and remain happy with my decision. I got tired of the "we are on track to do better next quarter" music for years on end... and they are still playing that tune.

[sharesoc] 02/7/2023 19:39

In case you missed our webinar with Witan Investment Trust plc (WTAN), the recording can be found on our YouTube channel:

[sharesoc] 11/6/2023 01:22

ShareSoc is hosting a webinar with Witan Investment Trust plc (WTAN) on 27 June 2023, which may be of interest to current shareholders or potential investors. James Hart (Investment Director) will be presenting. You can register here:

[vacendak] 19/8/2022 09:32

Now underperforming over 5 years.

More excuses about Ukraine and "not being prepared for it" as if their benchmark was.
The lamest excuse being about the timing of their interim results, with the usual "the second half of the reporting period looks better than the first".

The article mentions that the buybacks are not going anywhere. The discount remains high.

The dividend, while increasing to keep the "dividend hero" tag, is no longer covered (however, the reserves are still strong, so it can go on for a while like this) and WTAN compares badly to its peers.

I would not be surprised if the Board began to make some noise, if not, they should.

[vacendak] 24/4/2022 17:13

Useful link that helps a lot with my thirst for confirmation bias. :)



It is about two years old, but good data nonetheless to compare from the '90s to 2020.

[vacendak] 24/4/2022 16:12

Well, this is it. I have now sold and fully exited WTAN.
The latest factsheet was egregious in its wording to excuse bad performance.

"Whilst a wide discount (7.9% at the end of March) is
unwelcome, it may offer an opportunity for long-term investors and
affords the Company the opportunity to repurchase shares for the
benefit of our shareholders, who experience an uplift to the NAV of
the shares they hold."

Sorry, but a wide discount in this case it not Mr Market being wrong, it is the fund performing badly and running out of excuses.

As an aside, again in the March factsheet: While they kind of admit having realised that "it might be good to be at least a bit in Oil & Gas now", they are just too late doing so.

However, what took the biscuit was this:
"The other notable purchase was a new investment in the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF, an
Exchange Traded Fund designed to track the performance of an equal-weighted (as opposed to market-cap weighted) index of US biotechnology companies. This index has declined by over 40% since its peak just over a year ago, so appears to present an attractive entry point into a sector whose long-term growth prospects and specialist nature, make it an ideal candidate for inclusion within our Direct Holdings portfolio of specialist funds."

I did not mind their holding of some US tracker after having terminated one of the manager contracts and looking for another to replace them. This was a temporary measure. This one though is an "active" Investment Trust buying "passive" for the long term. So, no thank you, I could put this in my ISA on my own were I inclined to do it. As for the climate change obsession, I could just get one of those green bonds from National Savings instead of paying Witan for the privilege of seeing my money eroded by inflation but "doing good".

For the "Global/low risk/just beat the index" component of my portfolio I will now hold only FCIT (Foreign & Colonial). FCIT is also a piece of history and extremely liquid (offer/spread vanishingly small); while they are also getting a bit annoying with ESG/climate they still seem to ensure that making money is the first order of the day.

[vacendak] 11/4/2022 14:52

@CHC15
Indeed, I may have to admit I was wrong.

Then again this is the internet, if I said so, it would break everything! :)