Net Asset Value(s)

RNS Number : 5753L

Aurora Investment Trust PLC

03 January 2023

 

Aurora Investment Trust plc (the 'Company')

LEI: 2138007OUWIZFMAGO575

The Company announces that its unaudited Net Asset Value ("NAV") as at the close of business on 30 December 2022 was 207.64p per ordinary share (cum-income).

Investments in the Company's portfolio have been valued on a bid price basis in the above calculation.

Note on performance fees

The Company's Investment Manager, Phoenix Asset Management Partners Limited ("Phoenix" or the "Investment Manager"), does not earn an ongoing annual management fee. Instead, the Investment Manager is paid an annual performance fee, equal to one third of the outperformance of the Company's NAV against its benchmark, FTSE All-Share Index (total return).  

The performance fee is paid by way of the issuance of Ordinary Shares, which are subject to a fixed three-year clawback period. If the outperformance versus the index reverses on the third-year anniversary, some or all the issued shares will be returned by the Investment Manager, and if outperformance fully reverses, the Investment Manager will receive nothing.

Performance fees are accounted for under IFRS 2 Share Based Payments in the Company's Interim and Annual Reports. Please refer to the Company's website for a copy of the latest Annual Report for further details. However, it is believed that recognising performance fee charge and subsequent clawback on a liability basis i.e. divergent from IFRS 2, better represents the related economic impacts on the Company's NAV and is more informative to investors. Therefore, performance fee charge and subsequent clawback, if applicable, are recognised on a liability basis in the Company's unaudited daily NAVs.  

The Company awarded shares to the Investment Manager in settlement of a performance fee during the years ended 31 December 2019, 31 December 2020 and 31 December 2021, and no performance fee has been earned for the year ended 31 December 2022.

The clawback period in relation to the performance fee for the year ended 31 December 2019 ended on 31 December 2022 and has resulted in an entitlement to claw back 530,311 shares from the Investment Manager. The NAV per share has been adjusted on this basis (i.e. the number of shares in issue has been reduced by the number being clawed back for the purpose of the calculation), and the related impact of an increase of 1.66p per share has been reflected in the unaudited NAV per share as at 30 December 2022.

The clawback periods in relation to performance fee for the years ended 31 December 2020 and 31 December 2021 will end on 31 December 2023 and 31 December 2024, respectively. As at 30 December 2022, 100% clawback for both periods has been accrued, which has resulted in total NAV improvement of £2.66m (3.49p per share) and £0.22m (0.29p per share) respectively.

The combined effect of incorporating the clawbacks in the NAV per share as at 30 December 2022 has been an increase of 5.44p per share in total.

For and on behalf of the Board

Frostrow Capital LLP

Secretary

03 January 2023

 

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