Week 20 and the number of investment companies trading at a 52-week high discounts continues to follow a similar pattern to 2023. The latest Discount Watch reveals all.

ByFrank Buhagiar

It is our estimation that seven investment companies saw their discounts hit 12-month highs over the course of the week ended Friday 17 May 2024 – five less than the previous week’s 12.

Week 20 and the number of investment companies trading at 12-month high discounts is close to year lows. Of the seven 52-week high discounters, six come from alternative sectors – two funds each from debt, property and private equity. The only equity-focused investment company – Invesco Perpetual UK Smallers (IPU).

We’ve previously highlighted how 2024’s weekly discount tracker appears (so far at least) to be following a similar path to the one observed in 2023 – see below 2023’s discount tracker covering the first 20 weeks of the year.

Let’s hope the similarities end at Week 20 because from Week 21 2023 onward, the number of year-high discounters steadily increased – by Week 44 2023 there were 56 funds trading at record discounts for the year.

The top-five discounters

FundDiscountSectorGround Rents Income GRIO-70.10%PropertyCeiba Investment CBA-68.99%PropertyVPC Specialty Lending Investments VSL-43.10%DebtJPEL Private Equity JPEL-40.67%Private EquitySchroder British Opportunities SBO-36.17%Growth Capital

The full list

FundDiscountSectorVPC Specialty Lending VSL-43.10%Debt

Develop North DVNO-1.20%Debt

Schroder British Opportunities SBO-36.17%Growth Capital

JPEL Private Equity

JPEL-40.67%Private EquityGround Rents Income GRIO-70.10%Property

Ceiba Investment CBA-68.99%

PropertyInvesco Perpetual UK Smallers IPU-16.25%

Funds mentioned in this article:

Ground Rents Income Fund OrdVPC Specialty Lending Investments OrdSchroder British Opportunities OrdJPEL Private Equity OrdInvesco Perpetual UK Smaller Ord