7th Mar 2019 10:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - Small and mid-cap UK equities investor Crystal Amber Fund Ltd on Thursday said its interim net asset value suffered a fall on "difficult" equity markets but managed to outperform its benchmark.
At December 31, Crystal Amber's NAV per share stood at 221.67 pence, 9.4% lower compared to 244.62p at June 30. Compared to the previous December, however, NAV per share was up 16%.
In July, Crystal Amber declared an interim dividend of 2.5p and then declared another interim dividend of 2.5p in December. After subtracting the dividends, the fund's NAV per share fell 7.4% in the interim period.
In the six months to December 31, the fund's net assets decreased 10% to GBP213.8 million from GBP238.1 million in the same period the year before. During the period, Amber Crystal bought back 995,000 shares as part of its discount policy.
In the same six month period, the Numis Small Cap Index lost 11.1%.
The decrease in the interim period was attributed to "generally weaker" equity markets.
Chair Christopher Waldron said: "The fourth quarter of 2018 saw significant falls in US equities, as the pace of monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve prompted investors to rebalance portfolios away from relatively expensive growth stocks. This weakness spread quickly to all major markets, but UK investors also had to contend with the tortuous Brexit process. At the time of writing, we are no closer to understanding what Brexit will mean."
Waldron said this uncertainty has "eroded" business confidence in the UK.
"Despite difficult equity markets, I am pleased to report a creditable performance over the six-month period, and an excellent performance for 2018. We continue to engage with management teams of our main holdings and remain confident of making additional progress in 2019," said Waldron.
At December 31, Crystal Amber had equity investments in 18 companies, accounting for 89% of NAV. The fund also has warrants, loan notes and convertible investments in those same companies making up 8% of NAV. The fund has a net cash position of GBP6.3 million.
The investment manager added: "UK political uncertainty has depressed the willingness of companies to invest. Whilst the trading performances of several of the fund's holdings are inevitably affected by this lack of clarity, we believe that the fund is both defensively and securely positioned, with its focus on special situation and strategic holdings, which are ultimately less dependent upon macroeconomic developments and more upon a combination of self-help and active engagement."
Shares in Crystal Amber Fund were untraded Thursday but last closed at 207.00 pence.
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Crystal Amber