INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE & POLICY
The Board’s objective is to exceed the benchmark index over the long term whilst managing risk.
The Company invests in equities with an emphasis on smaller companies. UK smaller companies will normally constitute at least 80% of the investment portfolio. UK smaller companies include both listed securities and those quoted on the Alternative Investment Market (“AIM”).
The investment portfolio will normally lie in the range of 80% to 100% of shareholders’ funds and therefore gearing will normally be between –20% and 0%. As a result of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Regulations 2013 it has been decided that the Company will not use gearing.
CAPITAL STRUCTURE
ISSUED SHARE CAPITAL (at 31st December 2017)
8,375,258 Income shares of 25p each.
INCOME ENTITLEMENT
Equal entitlement to dividends and other distributions.
CAPITAL ENTITLEMENT
Equal entitlement to the surplus assets.
VOTING
One vote per share.
PRICE
(at 31st December 2017) 2155.00p.
DIVIDEND YIELD 1.43%
DISCOUNT MANAGEMENT POLICY
On 7th December 2016, the Company implemented share buy-back arrangements to encourage the level of discount to be not more than 10%.
SHARE BUY BACKS
During the year, the Company has bought back for cancellation a total of 590,097 Income shares for a total consideration of £11,835,000, representing 6.6% of the share capital of the Company at 31st December 2016.
DISCOUNT
9.16%.
CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
Developments late in the year around cuts to US rates of corporation tax resulted in a strong finish to 2017 and the FTSE All-Share Index rose by 9.0%.
The UK smaller company market performed well with FTSE Small Cap Index increasing by 14.9%.
Your Company’s portfolio fully participated in this strong market with the net asset value of the Income shares rising by 18.5% to 2372.3p. Total equity again achieved a new record of £198m and would have exceeded £200m but for the expense of share buy-backs.
The final income dividend proposed is 20.50p making 30.75p for the year, a 2.5% increase.
The share buy-back programme has utilised £11.8m during the year and a total of £13.9m worth of shares have been repurchased in its first fourteen months to January 2018. The programme is being extended for a further twelve months to February 2019.
Progress on Brexit has been slow in coming. The proposed transition period is to be welcomed as it will allow time to adapt but the final trading relationship with EU remains frustratingly obscure. Irrespective of the eventual outcome, quality companies will continue to make progress.
Dr D. M. BRAMWELL Chairman
26th February 2018