THE THROGMORTON TRUST PLC
All information is at 31 March 2010 and unaudited.
Performance at month end is calculated on a cum income basis
One Three One Three
Month Months Year Years
Net asset value# 10.4% 13.3% 81.3% -14.8%
Net asset value^ 10.4% 13.3% 81.3% -18.7%
Net asset value^^ 8.7% 11.6% 78.1% -20.1%
Share price 12.8% 18.3% 97.7% -16.7%
Subscription share price 68.0% 34.3% n/a n/a
HGSC plus AIM (ex Inv Cos) 7.1% 9.0% 70.9% -18.2%
# NAV prior to costs of repaying the debentures early
^ NAV after costs of repaying the debentures early - undiluted
^^ NAV after costs of repaying debentures early - diluted
Sources: BlackRock and Datastream
At month end
Net asset value capital only: 162.77p
Net asset value incl. income: 163.83p
Share price: 136.50p
Discount to capital only NAV: 16.1%
Subscription share price: 10.25p
Net yield: 2.0% *
Total assets: £126.1m **
Gearing: 3.7%
Ordinary shares in issue: 74,128,534 ***
Subscription shares in issue: 14,810,475
*Calculated using prior year interim and final dividends paid.
**Includes current year revenue.
*** Excluding 7,400,000 shares held in treasury.
Ten Largest Sector
Weightings % of Total Assets
Software & Computer Services 10.3
Mining 10.0
Financial Services 9.1
Oil & Gas Producers 8.4
Electronic & Electrical Equipment 6.4
Industrial Engineering 6.3
Support Services 6.2
Technology Hardware & Equipment 5.5
Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology 4.3
Real Estate Investment Trusts 3.0
----
Total 69.5
====
Ten Largest Equity Investments (in alphabetical order)
Company
Abcam
Aveva Group
Brewin Dolphin Holdings
Domino Printing Sciences
Eastern Platinum
Fidessa group
Gulfsands Petroleum
Rotork
Spirax-Sarco Engineering
Western Coal
Commenting on the markets, Mike Prentis and Richard Plackett, representing the
Investment Manager noted:
March was a strong month with the NAV (on a cum income basis) rising by 10.4%,
well ahead of the benchmark which rose by 7.1%. The FTSE 100 increased by 6.1%.
From a stock point of view performance relative to the benchmark index was
helped by significant contributions from Rensburg Sheppards, Western Coal and
Gulfsands Petroleum. Rensburg Sheppards announced an all share offer from 47%
shareholder Investec; this was pitched at a premium of approaching 50%.
Gulfsands received a bid approach from an Indian oil company, which it
rebuffed. We regard Gulfsands management and assets highly, and believe any bid
would have to be pitched at a substantial premium to have much chance of
success. Western Coal benefitted from substantially higher coal prices. It
produces coking and thermal coal mainly in North America. Production volumes
are increasing, costs per tonne are falling, and margins are widening. The
stock still looks good value after the recent rise.
The main disappointment from a stock point of view was Intec Telecom Systems,
which warned that a number of software licences being negotiated had slipped.
These mainly seem to be in the EMEA region where we have seen various software
companies commenting about delays to decision making. Whilst there is evidence
of more competition, Intec seems to be maintaining market share. We met with
management and were comforted by their comments; the shares look cheap for a
world leading software company.
Sector allocation during the month was positive helped by our overweight sector
weighting in the mining companies. However, we did suffer from being heavily
underweight in the travel and leisure sector relative to the benchmark, which
had a surprisingly strong month.
We sold our holding in Care UK, which received a bid from private equity; it is
becoming clearer that mergers and acquisitions activity is picking up. We
bought several new holdings, putting 0.5% into retailer Supergroup, an initial
public offering which was well received and is best known for its Superdry
brand. We also took slightly smaller holdings in Yule Catto and Impax Asset
Management. Yule Catto, the polymers company, derives 44% of its revenues from
the Asia Pacific region and other high growth developing markets, has a
relatively new and impressive chief executive officer, and is lowly valued.
Impax Asset Management manages equities invested in environmental funds. Its
fund performance has been good, and funds under management continue to grow.
The Contracts for Difference ("CFD") portfolio had another good month, helped
by being net long in a strongly rising market, and by good trading news from a
number of the stocks where we have long CFD positions.
Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/its on the
internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV
terminal).
26 April 2010
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