No change in the top-three on Winterflood’s list of highest monthly movers. That means two new investment companies make it onto the list this week including one which could be a contender for having the longest name.

By Frank Buhagiar•19 Aug, 2024

The Top Five

Crystal Amber (CRS) retains top spot on Winterflood’s list of highest monthly movers in the investment company space after almost doubling its gain to +23.9% from +13.5% previously. That extra 10% came after the small-cap investor announced an Extension to its Share Buyback Programme. Since 8 December 2023, CRS has spent £8.4 million buying back its shares and between now and 31 October 2024 the £80 million market cap plans to spend another £1.6 million. Easy to see why – since the start of the buyback programme in December the discount to net assets at which the shares trade at has narrowed from -33% to -5%.

Jupiter Green (JGC) not only keeps hold of second place but also its +12.8% gain on the month. Still no news out from the environmental investor whose shares have been on the march ever since 25 July 2024. That neatly coincides with the publication of the fund’s latest doceo video update. Must have been something investment manager Jon Wallace said.

PRS REIT (PRSR), yet another to hold on to its position on the list – shares in the build-to-rent fund extended their gain to +12.7% from +12.2%. July’s well-received Fourth Quarter Update still working its magic, although the long-awaited cut in UK interest rates at the beginning of August probably didn’t hurt the REIT either.

ICG-Longbow Senior Secured UK Property Debt Investments Limited (LBOW), a contender for the investment company with the longest name, a new entry in fourth thanks to a gain of +12.3%. LBOW hasn’t issued a press release since a Result of AGM announcement on 18 June 2024 but a look at the graph shows the share price added +5.5% on 1 August 2024 – the day of that UK interest rate cut!

SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT) completes the top five. An +8.7% gain enough to bag this week’s final spot. The fund’s only press release of the week a Holding(s) in Company announcement, highlighting how General Atlantic has increased its stake in SEIT to over 14%. The American growth equity investor has been regularly upping its holding in SEIT over the past year or so. Question is, will General Atlantic stop there or continue to increase its stake?

Scottish Mortgage

Scottish Mortgage’s (SMT) share price finished the week ended Friday 16 August 2024 off -4.2% on the month. That’s an improvement on the previous -7.6% deficit. The NAV monthly loss improved too, shrinking to -4.1% from -7.6%. Similarly, the wider global sector’s loss on the month narrowed to -2.1% from -4.1% seven days earlier. No surprise a good week was had by all, after all the tech-heavy Nasdaq put on +5.2%.