25th Jun 2020 10:08
(Alliance News) - Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund Ltd on Thursday said its net asset value fell during its last financial year, with Covid-19 pummelling equity markets towards the end of March.
Net asset value per share on March 31 was 6.5% lower annually at 96.69 pence from 103.41p, the economic infrastructure debt investor reported.
"The turbulent conditions of global financial markets in March 2020 led to a notable reduction in the value of our assets at year end," Chair Robert Jennings explained.
Its shares were 0.1% higher at 104.49p each in London on Thursday morning, an 8.1% premium to its March NAV per share.
Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income swung to a total return of negative 0.9%, from positive 8.0% in the year prior. Total return was hurt by market volatility. In the 11 months to February 28, its total return was positive 9.0%.
Sequoia Economic boosted its dividend by 3.1% to 6.1875p from 6.0p. It targets a payout of 6.25p for the new financial year.
"It is still early days, but we take encouragement from the way that both our portfolio and our team have performed over the last three months. Debt markets have been aided by the actions taken by central banks to provide liquidity, but we remain alert to the possibility that solvency issues may become more pressing as the robust steps taken to support businesses during the early period of difficulty start to run off, potentially causing spreads to widen again," the investor said.
By Eric Cunha; [email protected]
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