Another new name at the top of Winterflood’s list of monthly movers in London’s investment company space. We reveal which fund is having its moment in the sun as well as the names of the three investment companies that have muscled their way onto the broker’s latest list.

By
Frank Buhagiar

The Top Five
Castelnau Group (CGL) storms to the top of Winterflood’s list of investment company monthly movers. Shares in the flexible investor are up +27.5% on the month, an increase on the previous week’s +17.2% gain. The lion’s share of the increase was made over the last few trading days of the week ended Friday 5 July 2024 after a Net Asset Value update issued on 4 July showed net assets stood at £317.5m as at 28 June 2024. The near one-third increase on the £236m reported as at 31 May 2024 largely down to a +45.7% jump in the value of Dignity – the funeral operator accounts for over 70% of CGL’s total assets.

Downing Strategic Micro-cap (DSM) finds itself back on the list, again. Shares in the micro-cap investor, which are up +20.1% on the month, appear to have reacted positively to the company’s press release of 8 July 2024 CIRCULAR & NOTICE OF REQUISITIONED GENERAL MEETING. Shareholders requisitioning a general meeting doesn’t sound like an obvious cause of a share price spike, especially when the fund in question is in the process of winding up and returning funds to shareholders.

The shareholders who requisitioned the meeting are named as Milkwood Capital whom the Board suspects is looking to gain control of the Board and ‘acquire the Company’s assets on the cheap by avoiding making an offer for the entire Company’. Among the resolutions put forward by Milkwood is one that aims to prevent the Board from declaring any dividend, return of capital or other distribution on or prior to the Requisitioned General Meeting. The Board goes on to point out, however, that the Special Dividends already declared on 3 April 2024, 28 May 2024 and 17 June 2024 will not be affected by the outcome of the general meeting. The general meeting is due to be held on 5 August, so won’t have to wait too long for the next instalment of this long-running saga.

Tritax EuroBox (BOXE), another new name to make it onto the list courtesy of a +15.2% gain on the month. Shares have been in demand ever since news broke out that Brookfield Asset Management was thinking of making a cash offer for the logistics real estate investor. Brookfield better get their skates on though for, as per BOXE’s 1 July announcement, the Board revealed that, following the announcement of Brookfield’s possible cash offer on 3 June 2024, it is in discussions with a number of parties from whom it has received and/or solicited expressions of interest regarding a possible offer for the Company.

Augmentum Fintech (AUGM) drops from first to fourth on the list after the fintech investor’s shares saw their gain on the month shrink to +14.1% from +18.8% previously. The shares have benefited from decent news flow in recent weeks including the latest full-year results and news that the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority has acquired a 3.99% stake in the fund. The shares though may need another positive update to make it onto next week’s list.

The Schiehallion Fund (MNTN) completes the top five – shares are up +14%. No material news out from the growth capital investor over the past month but the share price rise can be traced back to 24 June. That’s around the time speculation broke out that SpaceX is planning to sell shares at a valuation of $210bn – as at 30/04/24 SpaceX accounted for 7.3% of MNTN’s NAV. Enough there to give MNTN’s shares lift off it seems.

Scottish Mortgage
Scottish Mortgage’s (SMT) share price finished the week ended Friday 12 July 2024 flat on the month, an improvement on the previous week’s 1% loss. NAV fared worse with a monthly loss of -0.9% compared to a +0.1% gain previously. The wider global investment trust sector finished the week up +3.4% having previously boasted a +2.3% gain on the month. SMT’s ongoing share buyback programme still working its magic it seems.