13th Dec 2016 10:57
LONDON (Alliance News) - Oryx International Growth Fund Ltd on Tuesday reported growth in net asset value in the first half of its financial year, beating its benchmark, as it expressed confidence in its portfolio for the full year.
The fund said its net asset value rose by 11% in the six months ended September 30, beating the FTSE Small Cap Index, which rose by 6.1%.
Oryx said its NAV was assisted by the takeover of some of its major holdings, in particular biopharmaceutical services company Source BioScience PLC which was bought by two private investment management firms in July for GBP62.9 million.
Another was in-flight products provider Journey Group PLC which was acquired by Jaguar Holdings Ltd for GBP28.4 million last month.
Oryx noted that shares in contract research organisation Cyprotex PLC also performed strongly, and also has had a takeover approach by German biopharmaceutical company Evotec AG since the period-end.
Oryx added that internet domain name owner and operator Minds + Machines Group Ltd and diagnostics products and services company EKF Diagnostics Holdings PLC performed well.
It did note that five-a-side football centre operator Goals Soccer Centres PLC was "disappointing", but said Goals' new management team and refinancing "give grounds for optimism over the medium term".
"Identifying stocks trading at a discount to market value has become increasingly more challenging with ever decreasing market liquidity. Despite the worries of Brexit placed on the UK market by British and EU governing bodies, we have seen the FTSE rally and hitting its highest level since 2015," Oryx said in a statement.
"Notwithstanding this, there are several catalysts in place in the quoted portfolio which should support further improvement in the net asset value of the company over the balance of the fiscal year," the company added.
Shares in Oryx were trading up 0.7% at 641.80 pence on Tuesday.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected]; @KarolinaAllNews
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