Watch List

Discount Watch

The discounts of nine investment companies hit 52-week highs last week, but which region contributed the most to the list?

Frank Buhagiar•09 Sep

We estimate there to be nine investment companies that saw their share prices trade at 52-week high discounts over the course of the week ended Friday 6 September 2024 – four more than the previous week’s five.

Four of this week’s nine appeared on the list last week: JPEL Private Equity from private equity; Ceiba Investments from property; Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF) from renewables; and Schroder Capital Global Innovation (INOV) from growth capital.

That leaves five new names, three of which come from one region: Japan. The funds in question – Fidelity Japan (FJV), JPMorgan Japanese (JFJ) and Schroder Japan (SJG). None of the three put out results but all were busy buying back their own shares during the week. The Japanese market found the going hard over the course of the week ended 6 September. The Nikkei 225 was off 5.8% while the broader TOPIX Index finished down 4.2%. A sell-off in semiconductor stocks in sympathy with the U.S.; a strengthening in the yen which makes life trickier for exporters; and concerns over further interest rate hikes – all weighing on sentiment. Just goes to show, sometimes you just can’t buck the market.

Or can you? Life Sciences REIT (LABS) certainly doing a good job of it, not in a good way though. For the share price has been bumping along the bottom of its 12-month discount range for some time, finally setting a new high (or low depending on your perspective) on 4 September 2024. This, however, is in stark contrast to the rest of the property sector (with the exception of Discount Watch regular CBA). For property sector share prices have, for the most part, bounced off their lows in anticipation of lower interest rates and in response to an uptick in corporate activity. And yet, LABS has failed to join in on the party. No news out this past week but on 12 August the company did announce that the latest half-year results are due to be published on 26 September 2024 – does the market know something the rest of us don’t?

The 52-week high discounters

Fund Discount Sector

Ceiba Investments CBA-69.64%

PropertyLife Science REIT LABS-59.99%Property

Schroders Capital Global Innovation INOV-53.63%

Growth Capital JPEL Private Equity JPEL-46.96%Private Equity Gore Street Energy Storage GSF-45.72%Renewables

The full list

Fund Discount Sector Schroders Capital Global Innovation INOV53.63%Growth Capital Fidelity Japan FJV15.12%

Japan JPMorgan Japanese JFJ13.26%JapanSchroder

Japan SJG14.95%Japan

JPEL Private Equity JPEL46.96%Private Equity Ceiba Investments CBA69.64%

PropertyLife Science REIT LABS59.99% Property

Gore Street Energy Storage GSF45.72%Renewables

Vietnam Enterprise VEIL23.09%Vietnam