Athelney Trust PLC
Legal Entity Identifier:
213800ON67TJC7F4DL05
The unaudited net asset value of Athelney Trust was 239p at 30 June 2019.
Fund Manager's comment for June 2019
The global economy is clearly affected by the trade war and by all accounts is slowing faster than expected. Global multinationals are clearly looking at their supply chains and changing them from higher tariff countries to those unaffected by renewed protectionism and the net effect is that these companies will see margin compression and pressure on overall profitability. Furthermore, if the US and China fail to deliver satisfactory progress on trade negotiations, or the middle east fracas continues to escalate, then the Fed could be forced to reduce rates more aggressively. That said, the reverse is also true if de-escalation of either or both is the order of the day, as was recently the case with Mexico.
Against this backdrop, US Treasury yields fell and the major world markets as represented by the MSCI World Index and the S&P 500 all made back the May losses by increasing by more than 6% in USD. Furthermore, June was a month dominated by large caps, with the FTSE 100 Index (+3.69%) increasing by almost four times the rate of increase in the Small Cap Index (+0.96%). In spite of this poor performance by the small and mid-cap stocks, the portfolio produced a reasonable performance with the NAV increasing by 1.12% during the month as compared to the Fledgling Index which increased by 0.45% and the AIM All Share Index which declined by 3.73% during the month.
The consolidation of our exposure to the Property sector has been completed and we will now turn our attention to the other sectors in the portfolio where our focus will be to retain and consolidate our holdings into those quality companies in the portfolio which are unlikely to be disintermediated by technological change and able to maintain or increase their dividend over the next five years. To this end, we will continue to sell our holdings in companies where there has been a change to the industry structure, the business model, the senior management team or the product/service offering, as well as adding companies which have an acceptable level of predictable growth in the business's medium-term economic performance.
Our position in Crest Nicholson was sold while we added LXI Reit and JD Sports to the portfolio.
Fact Sheet
An accompanying fact sheet which includes the information above as well as wider details on the portfolio can be found on the Fund's website www.athelneytrust.co.uk under "Portfolio Details".
Background Information
Dr. Emmanuel (Manny) Pohl
Manny is Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of E C Pohl & Co ("ECP"), an investment management company and has been a major shareholder in Athelney trust for many years.
E C Pohl & co is licensed by the Australian Financial services (licence no.421704).
Manny Pohl and the ECP group has over AU$1000m under its management including four listed investment companies, three listed in Australia and one in the UK:
· Flagship Investments (ASX code:FSI)
AUD50m https://flagshipinvestments.com.au
· Barrack St Investments (ASX code: BST)
AUD23m www.barrackst.com
· Global Masters Fund Limited (ASX code: GFL)
AUD26m www.globalmastersfund.com.au
· Athelney Trust plc (LSE code: ATY)
GBP5m www.athelneytrust.co.uk
Athelney Trust plc Investment Policy
The investment objective of the Trust is to provide shareholders with prospects of long-term capital growth with the risks inherent in small cap investment minimised through a spread of holdings in quality small cap companies that operate in various industries and sectors. The Fund Manager also considers that it is important to maintain a progressive dividend record.
The assets of the Trust are allocated predominantly to companies with either a full listing on the London Stock Exchange or a trading facility on AIM or ISDX. The assets of the Trust have been allocated in two main ways: first, to the shares of those companies which have grown steadily over the years in terms of profits and dividends but, despite this progress, the market rating is favourable when compared to future earnings and dividends; second, to those companies whose shares are standing at a favourable level compared with the value of land, buildings or cash in the balance sheet.
Athelney Trust was founded in 1994. In 1996 it was one of the ten pioneer members of the Alternative Investment Market ("AIM"). In 2008 the shares became fully listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. Athelney Trust has a successful progressive dividend growth record and the dividend has grown every year since 2004. According to the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) Athelney Trust is one of only "22 investment companies that have increased their dividend every year between 10 and 20 years - the next generation of dividend heroes" (as at 20/03/2018). See link
www.theaic.co.uk/aic/news/press-releases/next-generation-of-dividend-heroes
Website
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