28th Feb 2022 10:53
(Alliance News) - BB Healthcare Trust PLC said on Monday it had grown its net asset value over its financial year, but underperformed its benchmark, as performance continues to be "overshadowed" by Covid.
The healthcare sector investment company managed by Bellvue Asset Management Ltd said NAV per share at November 30 was 184.91 pence, up 7.2% from 172.51p a year before. The trust's share price was 186.20p at the end of November, reflecting a 0.7% premium to NAV.
Its NAV total return for financial 2021 came in at 10%, which was behind the MSCI World Healthcare Index return of 16%.
"The company's financial year started very strongly and by April 2021, we were on track for a very solid outperformance, plus 10% relative to the MSCI World Healthcare Index. This faded dramatically in May as Insmed, 6.2% of the portfolio, fell around 33% on the back of a poorly handled fundraising round and another five holdings totalling more than 12%, fell more than 20% for various, but arguably trivial, reasons that did not really relate to the longer-term investment case," said Paul Major and Brett Darke of Bellevue.
Insmed Inc is a Nasdaq-listed pharmaceutical firm focused on treating serious and rare disearses.
Some of that setback was made up throughout the year, but as the trust failed to keep momentum and faced a "very challenging" year-end, it finished behind the benchmark.
Whilst BB Healthcare underperformed this year, it noted that over five years from 2016 it has delivered a return of 114%, compared to the benchmark of 88%.
The company is proposing a final dividend of 3.02p per share, up 21% year-on-year from 2.50p. This brings the total for the year to 6.03p, up from 5.00p last year. It is targeting a total dividend of 6.47p in its current year.
BB Healthcare's share price was up 2.0% to 169.39 pence each in London on Monday morning.
"The ferocity and irrationality of the small and mid-cap focused healthcare sell-off in late 2021 has enabled us to snap up some veritable bargains and left a very compelling set-up as we move into 2022," said Major and Darke.
"Notwithstanding the continued volatility that has made an unwelcome return in the New Year, we are as optimistic as we have ever been about the potential for our current portfolio to accrete value for our investors in the longer-term."
By Elizabeth Winter; [email protected]
Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Bellevue Health