28th Apr 2020 16:58
(Alliance News) - ICG Enterprise Trust PLC on Tuesday said it outperformed its benchmark in its recently-ended financial year thanks to robust underling trading and realisation uplifts.
The investment trust reported a net asset value per share total return for its year ended January 31 of 11.2%, pulling ahead of the 10.7% total return from the FTSE All-Share Index. ICG put this down to "strong underlying trading and realisations at significant uplifts to carrying value and cost."
In total, 48 companies were realised in the year at an average uplift of 37% to the prior carrying value.
Net asset value per share increased to 1,152 pence as at January 31 from 1,057p the year before.
ICG increased its total dividend for the year to 23p per share with the declaration of a final 8p per share dividend, up 4.5% from 22p the prior year.
Oliver Gardey, head of Private Equity Fund Investments at ICG, said: "While the current economic conditions are uncertain, our portfolio is weighted towards more resilient and defensive companies. We invest with leading managers in the US and Europe, focused on mid-market and larger buyouts, with a bias towards those with strong in-house operating teams and capital markets specialists. In the weeks since the Covid-19 crisis unfolded, we have seen some of the benefits of the private equity model, with managers acting quickly and decisively to preserve and protect value. We believe the private equity model is well suited to dealing with current market conditions and are confident that our managers will adapt to future events and continue to grow value."
"Our flexible mandate, and in particular our high conviction approach, allows us to be nimble and adapt the mix of new investment to evolving market conditions. While in the short term, we do not expect to see significant new investment activity, when markets stabilise we are well placed to benefit from more favourable entry valuations and take advantage of the opportunities as they arise."
Shares in ICG closed up 1.9% at 662.00 pence in London on Tuesday,
By Anna Farley; [email protected]
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