Doceo Fund Monitor

Achilles (AIC) does what no other fund in London has managed to do in recent years – raise over £50m as part of an initial public offering; Foresight Solar (FSFL) joins the growing ranks of funds adopting more shareholder-friendly management fee structures and is also exploring all options in terms of its future strategy; while Assura (AGR) turns down a 48p per share cash offer from KKR.

By Frank Buhagiar

Achilles, London’s first £50m+ fund IPO since 2021

Achilles (AIC) has done what others have failed to do in recent years – raised over £50m as part of an initial public offering (IPO) in London’s investment company space. As per the press release o21 February 2025, the fund will invest in a “concentrated portfolio of closed-ended investment companies, admitted to trading on a market of the London Stock Exchange, with a focus on alternative assets (being assets other than publicly quoted equities) and to seek to maximise value for Shareholders through constructive activism.” The fund’s managers, Christopher Mills and Robert Naylor have form when it comes to getting the maximum value out of alternative assets – both played key roles in the successful sales of music royalty investors Roundhill Music and Hipgnosis. Investors clearly thinking the pair can repeat the trick elsewhere in the alternatives sector.

Liberum: “There does tend to be less activist involvement in Alternatives. Compared to equity funds, shares are far more widely held by institutions and wealth managers. While AIC’s ticket sizes may not be particularly large, it is likely that it will have the support/backing of some of the largest owners of Alternative funds and will therefore be able to represent the views of a large portion of registers in the funds it targets. We think the more good outcomes that can be delivered, the more chances there are for good strategies caught in the crossfires to come back into favour and the more likely it is for the sector to successfully introduce a wider pool of buyers.” Achilles to the rescue!

Foresight Solar cuts fees and assesses options

Foresight Solar (FSFL) joins the growing ranks of funds adopting more shareholder-friendly management fee structures. “The Board and the Investment Manager are acutely aware of the growing preference from investors for management fee structures to more closely reflect the share price performance experienced by shareholders.” Two “significant improvements” have been made. Under the new arrangements, rather than being wholly applied to net asset value (NAV), the new management fee will be applied to an equal weighting of (i) the average of the closing daily market capitalisation during each quarter and (ii) the published NAV for the quarter.

There’s also been a change to the fee rate charged. Previously, the Investment Manager received an annual management fee calculated at the rate of 1% p.a. of NAV up to £500m and 0.9% p.a. of NAV greater than £500m. From 1 March 2025, new fee rates of 0.95% up to £500m and 0.8% over £500m will be applied. As for what this means in terms of savings, the company helpfully provides an example. Using the 17 February 2025 77.7p share price, £436.3m market capitalisation and 31 December 2024 NAV of £634.4m, the changes would generate an annualised saving of c.£1.2m (19%).

Further changes could be afoot too. That’s because the Board has been talking with shareholders who “have expressed a range of views to the Board. While some have expressed a desire for liquidity, others are seeking ongoing exposure to the listed renewables sector through a vehicle with greater secondary market liquidity and scale to drive efficiencies. The Board’s role is to balance these objectives and deliver value to Shareholders in an efficient and effective manner by exploring all options available.” So, watch this space.

Jefferies: “the fee reduction and the fact that the board is ‘exploring all options available’ in terms of the future strategy of the fund should be welcomed by shareholders, with the hope that a more specific path forward is outlined ahead of this year’s discontinuation vote.”

Assura turns down takeover offer

Healthcare property co. Assura (AGR) put out a press release in response to an announcement from KKR “relating to the indicative, non-binding proposal that it submitted to the Assura Board on 13 February 2025 regarding a possible cash offer for the entire issued share capital of the Company.” The AGR Board however deemed the 48p per share offer “materially undervalued the Company and its prospects and therefore rejected it unanimously.” Ball back in KKR’s court.

Numis: “KKR confirmed that it has to-date made four indicative non-binding proposals to the Board. The latest proposal reflects a 28% premium to Thursday’s closing price, a 27% premium to the three-month volume weighted price, and a 2.8% discount to the September 2024 NTA.”

If you bought at issue price and simply re-invested the dividends, you would be in profit but you would have built a substantial holding, which hopefully you will be benefit from, one day..

Yield on issue 5.5%. Current yield 8.5%

Discount to NAV 20%

 GOLDMAN RAISES SUPERMARKET INCOME REIT PRICE TARGET TO 94 (92) PENCE – ‘BUY’

Supermarket Income announced a dividend of 6.1p per share, up 1.7% from 6.0p a year ago.

Looking ahead, Chair Nick Hewson said: “In the context of the recently challenging macro headwinds, we can now begin to consider the possibility of a more favourable interest rate environment. Market expectations of modest interest rate cuts over the coming months, albeit not returning to the levels of the 2010s, provide confidence that we have now seen the floor in this current cycle.”

He added: “Looking ahead, we remain optimistic that the improving interest rate environment should provide positive tailwinds for the company.”

18/09/24

3 Tax-Free Funds Throwing Off “Stealth” Dividends Up to 12%

Michael Foster, Investment Strategist
Updated: February 24, 2025

Today we’re going to use a simple strategy to (legally!) beat the tax man. The key is a (too) often-ignored group of funds whose dividends are beyond the reach of the IRS.

The low-risk assets behind this income stream really should be part of any income investor’s portfolio. And the three funds we’ll discuss below, which yield up to 7.3%, are a great place to start. Thanks to their tax-free status, their “real” yields will likely be considerably more for us.

Enter “Boring But Beautiful” Municipal-Bond Funds

Here’s the truth on taxes: If you’re an American and you receive any kind of income, you’re going to get taxed. This is a constant of life. But there is one exception: municipal bonds, the income from which is tax-free for most Americans.

That tax-exempt status drives plenty of investors to muni bonds, making them a secret weapon for state and local governments and American industry, as these bonds fund many infrastructure and other public works projects around the country.

It adds up to a big difference-maker for many folks. A municipal, or “muni,” bond yielding 4% might not seem impressive at first glance, but for someone in the top federal tax bracket, this 4% tax-free yield is equivalent to a taxable yield of 6.6%.

And of course, the higher our “headline” muni-bond yields get, the bigger the taxable-equivalent yield: for that same taxpayer in the top federal bracket, for example, 5% yields turn into 8.3% on a taxable-equivalent basis.

Creating Your Own “Tax-Free Income Machine”

The best way to buy municipal bonds is through closed-end funds (CEFs), which give us three key advantages:

• Active management: The world of municipal bonds is challenging for individuals to access, so we want pros from well-established firms like BlackRock, Nuveen and others “running” our muni-bond portfolio for us.
• High yields: Plenty of muni-bond CEFs pay 4%, 5% and more, which, as we just saw, translates into a bigger yield on a taxable-equivalent basis.Discounts to net asset value (NAV): Because CEFs have more or less fixed share counts for their entire lives, they can, and often do, trade at different levels than the per-share value of their portfolios, and regularly at discounts. That lets us buy our “munis” for 90, 85 and sometimes even fewer cents per dollar of assets, as we’ll see in a moment.

With all that in mind, let’s go ahead and create a tax-free income portfolio with just three CEFs, all of which are diversified across municipalities, projects and credit ratings.

Muni Pick #1: BlackRock MuniYield Quality Fund (MQY)

MQY is notable for its consistent performance and ability to offer tax-free income for a long time, making it a great long-term hold.

MQY’s Long History of Profits

MQY currently trades at a 7% discount to NAV, so we’re paying 93 cents for every dollar of assets with this one. Cheap! Moreover, like all muni-bond funds, MQY dropped in 2022, as interest rates rose. But now, with rates having come down a bit, and likely to move lower over time, the fund is nicely positioned to grind higher, in addition to handing us a nice long-term (and of course tax-free) income stream.

The kicker here is that MQY’s 5.9% yield—already attractive on its own—“converts” to a 9.8% taxable-equivalent yield for top income earners.

Muni Pick #2: Nuveen AMT-Free Quality Municipal Income Fund (NEA)

Let’s carry on with NEA, known for its strong management team (Nuveen gets access to high-quality municipal-bond issuances early, which is possible thanks to the company’s deep contacts in the muni-bond world and the fact that the muni market is small).

Like MQY, NEA trades at a discount (4.9% in this case) but its yield clocks in at a massive 7.6%, thanks in no small part to higher yields the fund has been able to lock in as interest rates rose and stayed elevated.

And like MQY, this fund has a long track record of healthy total returns, especially for a stable asset class like munis.

NEA Keeps Delivering Income and Gains

Bear in mind, too, that thanks to NEA’s high yield, much of that return has come in the form of dividend cash.

Muni Pick #3: RiverNorth Managed Duration Municipal Income Fund II (RMMZ)

Finally, for further diversification in the muni-bond fund space, consider RMMZ, which has an interesting method of managing duration and credit risk: It buys more individual municipal bonds when the muni market is hot, then leans more into buying other muni-bond CEFs when the market is cold and CEF discounts are unusually wide.

RMMZ’s Clever Approach to Maintaining Income

Source: RiverNorth Capital Management

This fund also trades at a wide discount to NAV—7.4% today—which is yet again a nice bonus for a high-yielding fund. But the real standout stat is RMMZ’s yield: 7.2%. On a taxable-equivalent yield basis, that’s 12%. Plus, RMMZ’s discount to NAV has been eroding, giving investors who buy at a discount the potential to sell at a profit as the discount shrinks.

RMMZ’s Discount Is Evaporating

RMMZ is far from perfect: its payouts were cut at the start of 2025 by two-tenths of a penny, and if that were to happen again, its current yield would “fall” to around 7%, with little effect on that 12% taxable-equivalent yield for our top income earner!

I don’t know about you, but that’s a pretty reasonable “downside” to me. The upside is that these funds all have diversified portfolios in municipal bonds, which sport just a 0.1% default rate across the asset class.

The bottom line: If you need a tax break (and who doesn’t?), these are three funds worth serious attention.

Play Defense With Munis. Then BUY These 10% Dividends for Trump 2.0 GAINS

I know there’s a lot of uncertainty out there, and these 3 muni-bond CEFs, with their stability and huge tax-free dividends, are the perfect way to protect your portfolio.

But we do NOT want to fully pull back into our shell. Because Trump 2.0, despite its disruption out of the gate, is going to set us up with some terrific income (and growth) opportunities in the coming years—and we do NOT want to miss out on those.

Contrariain Outlook

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I know absolutely nothing about Munis, so it’s strongly advised that you do further research before deciding to invest any of your hard earned.

Larry Grayson for Brits only.

The current profit for the Snowball on closed positions is £13,443.00

The current loss for the Snowball on closed positions is £8,855.00

Both include dividends received.

Whilst the Snowball’s plan isn’t a trading strategy but a buy and hold forever, if the market gods allow it, if a profit can be taken and invested back into a higher yielder, the Snowball will grow quicker.

Remember a profit is not a profit until the underlying share is sold and the profit banked.

Obviously, we should all think more like Warren Buffett

By James Baxter-Derrington
Investment Editor

Each and every year since Berkshire Hathaway stopped operating primarily as a textile manufacturer and began its path to synonymity with “investing genius”, its chair has produced an annual letter.

Since 1973, the Oracle of Omaha has also invited shareholders to quiz him in person at an event which has come to be known as “Woodstock for Capitalists”.

With Woodstock still a few months away, investors will have to make do with Warren Buffett’s annual letter for now.

Part of Buffett’s appeal is precisely what allows him to succeed so famously – contrition and honesty.

The very first subhead of his letter reads “Mistakes – Yes, We Make Them at Berkshire”. In fact, Berkshire’s birth as Buffett’s investment vehicle was a mistake, if you ask him. Thanks to a desire to get even with somebody he felt had slighted him, Buffett says he missed out on $200bn of compound returns by purchasing the firm.

There is nobody so famous for offering investment lessons as Buffett, and his letter continues in this vein. A tip for life as well as investing, he describes “delaying the correction of mistakes” as the “cardinal sin” – or, in the words of his late business partner Charlie Munger, “thumb-sucking”.

“Problems, he would tell me, cannot be wished away. They require action, however uncomfortable that may be.”

Delaying the inevitable will only ever cause further pain – a 50pc loss is considerably better than a 100pc loss.

To be honest with yourself is also to prevent yourself from believing lies – was your 2018 purchase of Tesla really genius? Did you actually predict 1,800pc growth?

“If you start fooling your shareholders, you will soon believe your own baloney and be fooling yourself as well,” he says.

The letter also takes a moment to touch on a point I addressed last week – the opportunity of Japan.

Given the firm’s near-entire US focus, it bears considering just what it means for Berkshire to have spent the past six years building stakes in Japanese companies.

The rationale was straightforward: “We simply looked at their financial records and were amazed at the low prices of their stocks. As the years have passed, our admiration for these companies has consistently grown. Greg has met many times with them, and I regularly follow their progress. Both of us like their capital deployment, their managements and their attitude in respect to their investors.”

(Greg is Greg Abel, heir apparent to Berkshire Hathaway.)

Has it worked? Berkshire has spent an aggregate $13.8bn (£10.9bn) purchasing its stakes, which are currently worth $23.5bn.

Buffett also references the success of their “yen-balanced strategy” – “the annual dividend income expected from the Japanese investments in 2025 will total about $812m and the interest cost of our yen-denominated debt will be about $135m”.

Decent.

To invest like Warren Buffett is simple – buy Berkshire Hathaway; to think like Warren Buffett is a little tougher, but will offer returns beyond capital growth.

Depending when you bought you may be sitting on a substantial loss.

You would have built up a large position with the Trust, so stick to your task until it stick’s to you, as long as it continues to pay a dividend.

Current yield 7.6%

Discount to NAV 35%

Dividends

The Company has declared the following interim dividends in respect of the year:

Quarter to	Declared	Paid/to be paid	Amount (p)
30 June 2024	31 August 2024	6 October 2024	1.6
30 September 2024	22 November 2024	27 December 2024	1.6
Total			3.2

The total dividend was therefore in line with the Group’s target for the year of 3.2p. 1.6 dividends were property income distributions and 1.6 was a non-property income distribution. The cash cost of the total dividend for the year will be £13.6 million (30 September 2023: £13.6 million).

Nov 2024

19 February 2025

Warehouse REIT plc

(the “Company” or “Warehouse REIT”, together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”)

Dividend Declaration

The Company has declared its third interim dividend in respect of the third quarter of the financial year ending 31 March 2025 of 1.60 pence per ordinary share, payable on 11 April 2025 to shareholders on the register on 14 March 2025. The ex-dividend date will be 13 March 2025.

The dividend of 1.60 pence per ordinary share will be paid in full as a Property Income Distribution.

“First of all, never play macho man with the market. Second, never overtrade”. – Paul Tudor Jones

Most investors prefer to do something rather than do nothing, even when that something often proves to be an unnecessary mistake, notably overtrading. Overtrading, or excessive buying and selling or churning of investments, is a mistake that can erode total returns.

It is essentially the mistake of being a ‘busy fool’ or being reactive rather than proactive. We can often believe we are being productive by continually reacting to changes in our investments when we are doing so unnecessarily.

Frequent trading often incurs additional transaction costs and increases the chances of making impulsive, ill-informed and costly decisions. Investors should adopt a disciplined approach and resist the urge to trade excessively.

It is essential to identify a well-defined strategy and stick to it, avoiding unnecessary transaction costs and potential losses. One of the main mistakes people make when trading or investing is focusing only on making very high returns in a short period.

Thursday 27 February

abrdn Equity Income Trust PLC ex-dividend date
abrdn European Logistics Income PLC ex-dividend date
Alliance Witan PLC ex-dividend date
Downing Renewables & Infrastructure Trust PLC ex-dividend date
Scottish American Investment Co PLC ex-dividend date
Triple Point Venture VCT PLC ex-dividend date

If you had bought after the Covid crash and simply re-invested the dividends, you are near to achieving the holy grail of investing in that you will be able to take out your stake and re-invest in another high yielder.

Current yield on RECI 9.7%, if you re-invested the capital in another Trust (for comparison purposes only) of 10.3% your yield on invested capital would be 20%.

Long term investing and if you look at the start of the chart, a good reason for booking profits and re-investing to spread the risk.

Again a simple do nothing strategy, apart from re-investing the dividends.

Is the dividend secure ?

The fcast is to flatline at the current yield of 9.7% based on todays price.

What do they do ?

Real Estate Credit Investments Limited (RECI) is a closed-ended investment company which originates and invests in real estate debt secured by commercial or residential properties in the United Kingdom and Western Europe.

RECI is externally managed by Cheyne Capital’s real estate business  was formed in 2008 and currently manages $6.5bn via private funds and managed accounts. Its investments span the entire spectrum of real estate risk from senior loans, mezzanine loans, special situations to direct asset development and management.

RECI’s aim is to deliver a stable quarterly dividend with minimal portfolio volatility, across economic and credit cycles, through a levered exposure to real estate credit investments.

Investments may take different forms but are principally in:

• Self-Originated Deals: predominantly bilateral senior real estate loans and bonds
• Market Bonds: listed real estate debt securities such as Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS) bonds.

Loan arranger, higher risk but loans secured on property provides some security.

Not that one though.

Real Estate Credit Investments Limited (the “Company”)

Ordinary Dividend for RECI LN (Ordinary shares)

Real Estate Credit Investments Limited announces today that it has declared a third interim dividend of 3.0 pence per Ordinary Share for the year ending 31 March 2025. The dividend is to be paid on 4 April 2025 to Ordinary Shareholders on the register at the close of business on 14 March 2025. The ex-dividend date is 13 March 2025.

How to Live Off

$500,000… Practically Forever

• How the 4% Rule and 60/40 Portfolio are now dead.
• How you could bank tens of thousands of dollars in yearly dividend cash for every $500,000 invested, and …

A half-million dollars is a lot of money. Unfortunately, it won’t generate much income today if you limit yourself to popular mainstream investments.

The 10-year Treasury pays around 4% as I write this. That’s not bad, historically speaking, but put your $500K in them and you’re only looking at $20,000, barely over the poverty level for a two-person household. Yikes.

And dividend-paying stocks don’t yield nearly enough. For example, Vanguard’s popular Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG) pays around 1.7%. Sad.

When investment income falls short, retirees are often forced to sell their investments to supplement their income.

Of course, the problem here is that when capital is sold, the payout stream takes an immediate hit – so that more capital must be sold next time, and so on.

Avoid the Share Selling “Death Spiral”

Some financial advisors (who are not retired themselves, by the way) say that you can safely withdraw and spend, say, 4% of your retirement portfolio every year. Or whatever percentage they manipulate their spreadsheet to say.

Problem is, in reality, every few years you’re faced with a chart that looks like this.

Apple’s Dividend Was Fine – Its Stock Wasn’t

As you can see, the dividend (orange line above) is fine — growing, even — but you’re selling at a 25% loss!

In other words, you’re forced to sell more shares to supplement your income when they’re depressed.

Remember the benefits of dollar-cost averaging that built your portfolio? You bought regularly, and were able to buy more shares when prices were low?

In this case, you’re forced to sell more shares when prices are low.

When shares rebound, you need an even bigger gain just to get back to your original value.

The Only Reliable Retirement Solution

Instead of ever selling your stocks, you should instead make sure you live on dividends alone so that you never have to touch your capital.

This is easier said than done, and obviously the more money you have, the better off you are. But with yields still pretty low, even rich folks are having a tough time living off of interest today.

And you can actually live better than they can off of a (much) more modest nest egg if you know where to look for lesser-known, meaningful and secure yield.

I’m talking about annual income of 8%, 9% or even 10%+ so that you’re banking $50,000 (and potentially more) each year for every $500,000 you invest.

You and I both know an income stream like that is a very nice head start to a well-funded retirement.

And it’s totally scalable: Got more? Great!

We’ll keep building up your income stream, right along with your additional capital.

And you’ll never have to touch your nest egg capital – which means you won’t have to worry about or running out of money in retirement, or even the day-to-day ups and downs of the stock market.

The only thing you need to concern yourself with is the security of your dividends.

As long as your payouts are safe, who cares if your stock prices swing up or down on a given day?

Most investors know this is the right approach to retirement.

Problem is, they don’t know how to find 8%, and 10% yields to fund their lives.

And when they do find high yields, they’re not sure if these payouts are safe. Will the company or fund have enough cash flow to pay the dividends into the future?

And how sensitive are these payouts to the latest headline, Fed policy changes or unrest on the other side of the globe?

The ONE Thing You Must Remember

If I could leave you with just one nugget of investing wisdom today, it would be to NEVER overlook the incredible wealth-building power of dividends.

Few investors realize how important these unglamorous workhorses actually are.

Here’s a perfect example…

If you put $1,000 in the dividend-paying stocks of the S&P 500 back in 1973, you would have had $87,560 by 2023, or 87x your money.

But the same $1,000 in the non-dividend payers would have grown to just $8,430 — 90% less.

That’s why I’m a dividend fan.

The stock market is a fantastic wealth-building machine, but it doesn’t always go straight up!

There have been plenty of 10-year periods where the only money investors made was in dividends.

And that’s what gives us dividend investors such an edge.

When you lock in an 8%+ yield, you’re booking an income stream that’s bigger than the stock market’s long-term average return right off the bat.

Of course you can’t just buy every ticker symbol out there with a flashy yield, or you’ll get burned pretty fast.

So let’s wipe the false promises of mainstream finance from our minds and start thinking the “No Withdrawal” way…

Contrarian Income Report