Management Fee and Discount Control Policy

RNS Number : 6174H

Standard Life UK Small.Co's Tst PLC

01 December 2015

 

1 December 2015

Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust plc ("the Company")

Revisions to Management Fee and Discount Control Policy

Following the Company's annual strategy review and discussions with its Manager, Standard Life Investments ("SLI"), the Board is pleased to announce that:

Investment Management Agreement: It has been agreed that with effect from 1 January 2016 a tiered management fee will be introduced with the current fee of 0.85% continuing to apply to the first £250m of the Company's total assets but with a reduced fee of 0.65% of total assets applying above this £250m threshold.

It has also been agreed that the noticed period, under the investment management agreement, be reduced from 12 months to 6 months.

Fund Manager: Harry Nimmo, the Company's lead fund manager for the past 12 years, has confirmed his current intention to manage the Company's assets on behalf of Standard Life Investments for the next seven years.

Discount control mechanism: The Board has decided to reduce the hard discount target level that the Company operates from 10% to 8% of diluted net asset value. The Company's shares currently trade at a discount of 3.8% (source Winterflood Securities 27 November 2015). The Board will aim to use its 14.99% share buy-back authority (approved by shareholders in October 2015) to seek to maintain a discount level of less than 8% to diluted net asset value under normal market conditions. Share buy backs will only be made where the Board believes it to be in the best interests of shareholders as a whole and the making and timing of share buy-backs will be at the absolute discretion of the Board. In addition, the Board intends to continue to seek shareholder approval to enable it to carry out tender offers in circumstances where the Board believes that share buy-backs are not sufficient to maintain the discount at an appropriate level.

All Enquiries:

Gordon Humphries
Standard Life Investments Limited
Tel: [phone]

Joe Winkley
Winterflood Investment Trusts
Tel: [phone]

 

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