Dividends
The Company announces that it has declared an interim dividend of 1 pence per ordinary share, payable on 26 February 2021 to ordinary shareholders on the register on 22 January 2021. The ex-dividend date will be 21 January 2021.
Following the implementation of the Company's new investment policy and objective, focused on protecting the purchasing power of its capital in real terms, payment of dividends is not the key objective of the Company. The Company will therefore discontinue its policy of paying quarterly dividends and will instead make any dividend declarations on an annual basis. As a result, the directors do not intend to declare any further dividends until after the end of the current financial year ending 30 June 2021 and future dividends, if any, will reflect any excess income from the investment portfolio after accounting for the Company's costs.
Portfolio Update
The Company has made substantial progress in transitioning its portfolio away from the historical income focus and towards the new objectives of protecting the purchasing power of its capital and participating in enduring businesses. Though this transition is still ongoing, the directors are pleased to provide details of the portfolio as at 31 December 2020, shown in the table below, as an indication of the progress made so far.
Further updates will be provided at the time of the release of the Company's interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2020, which are expected to be released in February 2021.
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Unaudited portfolio as at 31 December 2020 |
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Security |
Country |
Holding |
Value (£) |
% |
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Hal Trust |
Netherlands |
10,000 |
1,047,261 |
6.8% |
|
Bakkafrost |
Faroe Islands |
15,000 |
785,008 |
5.1% |
|
Tonnellerie François Frères Group |
France |
25,000 |
597,476 |
3.9% |
|
Unilever |
UK |
13,300 |
584,136 |
3.8% |
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British American Tobacco |
UK |
21,000 |
568,680 |
3.7% |
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Franco-Nevada |
Canada |
6,000 |
548,975 |
3.6% |
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Emmi |
Switzerland |
700 |
527,766 |
3.4% |
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Lucas Bols |
Netherlands |
55,000 |
485,410 |
3.2% |
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Rio Tinto |
UK |
8,320 |
455,104 |
3.0% |
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Strix Group |
Isle of Man |
208,636 |
454,826 |
3.0% |
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Imperial Oil |
Canada |
32,000 |
443,388 |
2.9% |
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Barrick Gold |
Canada |
25,000 |
416,453 |
2.7% |
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Bucher Industries |
Switzerland |
1,200 |
402,814 |
2.6% |
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ForFarmers |
Netherlands |
70,000 |
333,333 |
2.2% |
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Safilo Group |
Italy |
300,000 |
202,336 |
1.3% |
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Diageo |
UK |
6,600 |
189,948 |
1.2% |
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Total equity participations |
|
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8,042,914 |
52.3% |
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Six Hundred Group 8% 14/02/2022 |
UK |
500,000 |
435,000 |
2.8% |
|
Intercede Group 8% 29/12/2021 |
UK |
450,000 |
360,000 |
2.3% |
|
Renold 6% Preference Shares |
UK |
422,109 |
363,014 |
2.4% |
|
Northgate 5% Preference Shares |
UK |
532,763 |
181,139 |
1.2% |
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Other legacy holdings |
Various |
|
118,204 |
0.8% |
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Total fixed income & other legacy holdings |
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1,457,356 |
9.5% |
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Invesco Physical Gold ETC |
UK |
15,000 |
2,012,364 |
13.1% |
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WisdomTree Physical Gold ETC |
UK |
11,500 |
1,510,169 |
9.8% |
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WisdomTree Physical Swiss Gold ETC |
Switzerland |
9,000 |
1,201,558 |
7.8% |
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Total gold |
|
|
4,724,091 |
30.7% |
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Sterling Cash |
|
|
1,221,865 |
7.9% |
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Other liabilities net of other assets |
|
|
(59,053) |
-0.3% |
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Total cash and other net assets |
|
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1,162,362 |
7.6% |
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Total Assets |
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15,386,723 |
100.0% |
NAV Announcements
As announced on 5 January 2021, the Net Asset Value (“NAV”) per Ordinary Share (including unaudited current period revenue) at 31 December 2020 was 322.43 pence.
To reflect the long term nature of the Company's portfolio and to reduce the costs and administrative burden on the Company, announcements of the Company's NAV will in future be made on a monthly basis, following the month end, rather than weekly as was the previous practice.