Year-end update

RNS Number : 0609V

Gresham House Strategic PLC

04 April 2019

 

4 April 2019                           

Gresham House Strategic plc

 Year-end update

Gresham House Strategic plc ("GHS" or "the Company") is pleased to announce an update for the financial year ended 31 March 2019.

GHS expects to publish its full-year results in June. The latest factsheet for the period 1 January 2019 to 31 March 2019 is now available at: https://strategicequity.greshamhouse.com/ghs-factsheet-q1-2019/ 

Investment Highlights

§ One of the top-performing UK small-cap funds[1], delivering unaudited market-leading NAV total return performance of 8.0% to 1,253.9p[2]/share vs FTSE Small Cap Index total return of -3.1% in the year from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019

§ Three-year anniversary of management by Gresham House marked with strong NAV total return of 31.4% since inception and operational milestones achieved 

§ Driven by strong performance of its strategic investments including Augean, Tax Systems, IMImobile and Northbridge

§ Realisations of £18.8m from profitable investments in the period; including IMImobile (£13.8m), Miton group (£1.7m), and Tax Systems (£2.0m)

§ A number of value recovery plans underway or being prepared for underperforming investments - the potential benefits of the team's value-recovery efforts can be seen at BeHeard in their latest results

Operational Highlights

§ Gresham House Strategic was the top-performing UK small-cap fund for the calendar year 2018 versus OEIC and investment trust peers1

§ Total shareholder returns of 20.4% in the year as GHS share price rose from 827.5p to 970p and FY18 dividend and FY19 interim dividend paid

§ £1.9m return of cash to GHS shareholders via a buy-back and dividend in CY18

§ Share price discount to NAV reduced from 30.0% at 31 March 2018 to 22.6% at 31 March 2019

§ Exciting pipeline of strategic deals targeting completion for Q2 2019

§ The GHS Board expects Gresham House Asset Management's recently announced joint venture with Aberdeen Standard Investments, relating to its Strategic Public Equity (SPE) strategy led by Graham Bird and Tony Dalwood, to deliver significant positive benefits for GHS over the longer term

For further information, please contact:

Gresham House Strategic plc	David Potter Chairman	07711 450 391
Gresham House Asset Management Ltd	Graham Bird Investment Manager	020 3757 5613
finnCap Nominated Adviser and Broker	Stuart Andrews/William Marle	020 7220 0500
Attila Consultants	Charles Cook/Nita Shah	07710 910563

Notes to editors

GHS plc is the only listed vehicle applying Gresham House's Strategic Public Equity ('SPE') strategy. The Strategic Public Equity mandate utilises the principles and practices of private equity to invest in influential stakes in UK smaller public and private companies which it believes to be undervalued. As such, the team has an engaged, active style of investing, working closely with management teams, to create shareholder value through strategic or operational initiatives, supporting a clear 3-5 year management plan to implement these initiatives.

 

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[1] Data compiled by FE Trustnet and Morningstar for the year to 31 December 2018, shows the Gresham House Strategic fund outperformed all open-ended UK smaller companies' funds and UK smaller companies closed ended funds, achieving total NAV total returns of 8.9%. Since inception in August 2015, GHS has outperformed its benchmark by 13.3%.

[2] The unaudited NAV per share includes valuations of the Company's unlisted investments as at 31 December 2018. The valuation of all unlisted investments, which comprise approximately 15% of the net asset value the majority of which are convertible loan notes, will be reviewed for the purposes of the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2019.

 

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