6 February 2020
India Capital Growth Fund Limited (the "Company" or "ICGF")
Net Asset Value statement at 31 January 2020
Net Asset Value
The Company announces its Net Asset Value per share as at 31 January 2020 was 89.68 pence.
In January the Net Asset Value (NAV) was up 1.3% in Sterling terms, whilst the BSE MidCap TR Index was up 3.1%, delivering an under performance against the notional benchmark of 1.8%. In local currency terms, the NAV was up 1.5% for the month.
Portfolio update
Positive contribution to the portfolio's performance was driven by Motherson Sumi Systems (up 13.1%), City Union Bank (up 4.1%) and Balkrishna Industries (up 6.9%). The negative contribution mainly stemmed from Jyothy Laboratories (down 17.9%), Yes Bank (down 31.3%) and Welspun India (down 9.1%).
Market and economic update
The BSE MidCap Index outperformed the BSE Sensex by some margin with the former up by 3.3% and the latter down by 1.3% (in Indian Rupees). Sentiment appeared to improve with foreign institutional investors buying US$1.4bn of equities and domestic institutions similarly purchasing US$313m for the month on a net basis. The Indian Rupee was unchanged against the US Dollar and depreciated 0.2% against the Pound Sterling.
Indian companies began announcing results for the quarter ending 31 December with the majority of companies so far reporting in line with (lower) expectations. Private sector banks continue to gain market share however concerns about loan growth and asset quality in retail banks may be emerging. Public sector banks saw some slippages in asset quality with the largest accounts having already been recognised; their recoveries going forwards hold key to a revival in sentiment. Consumer Staples and Consumer Discretionary companies continued to see slowdown in volume growth with rural India growing at half the pace of its urban counterpart. Cement companies, despite benefitting from steep declines in raw material prices, were impacted by lower volume and price realisation. On 1 February, the Government announced its Union Budget for 2020 which focused on the Government's long term management of the fiscal deficit. Please visit www.indiacapitalgrowth.com for further details.
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