Carefully Does It
27 Mar 2018
Re: Sell off Waiting to buy.
cimbom
27 Mar 2018
Re: Sell off Trump?
luckybrian
27 Mar 2018
Sell off Anyone know the reason for this steady downward slide?Luckybrian
Carefully Does It
02 Feb 2018
Re: Sell off No idea that is certain but wonder if being heavy in 10 yr treasuries (bond prices under pressure as rates rise) & "small companies" in the name.A fair few small companies are under pressure currently.Bonds might recover if the Fed is forced to suspend rises and QE unwind on recession concerns. For now they look intent on rises etc.
luckybrian
02 Feb 2018
Sell off Why the sell off, have I missed something?Luckybrian
luckybrian
12 Jan 2018
movement A little upward movement in the past week a welcome change.Luckbrian
II Editor
13 Oct 2017
NEW ARTICLE: Stockwatch: A steady turnaround backed by 6% yield "Is this AIM-listed asset/energy support services group LSE:LAKE:Lakehouse a genuinely evolving turnaround, or does a 6% prospective yield imply the market has justifiable doubts?I initially drew attention as a potential recovery play in January ..."[link]
holland44
09 Oct 2017
Re: Quiet This has been a long and frustrating period of stasis for NAS: except for a brief flurry up to around 2750 in May 2017, the SP has done very little besides oscillate between 2450 and 2600 (August 2016 - May 2017) and 2550-2650 all summer.The Annual Report of January 2017 confessed the NAV increased only by 8.3% in 2016 compared with 33% on the sterling-adjusted S&P500 (or 47.9% on the Russell 2000, which seems a more appropriate index for a small-cap trust), but claimed to be broadly in line with other UK small-cap specialists. However NAS has also largely missed out on the strong recovery in UK small-caps in 2017: compare with other UK small-cap specialists like Old Mutual UK Smaller (a fund), or Independent, RIII, IPU or SDV and it's enough to make you want to dump the shares. Performance over 3 years is somewhat better and matches IPU, but it's still not exactly heartwarming, and no dividends and a monster 19% discount too.So what's going on? Yes, the heavy weighting in Treasuries provides a drag, and investors like me ought to be aware of this as the trust clearly says it is is very cautiously positioned, based on an assessment of the US and UK markets as being very overvalued. However 25% in bonds, year after year, is beginning to look like overkill, and with approx 13% in MJ Gleeson alone, that's approaching 40% of the portfolio gone on just two bets. In view of the significantly better performance by other small-cap specialists over a sustained period, perhaps this approach is actually unduly risky, not conservative. Where's the belief in the potential of animal spirits, disruptive innovation and rapid growth that small companies are meant to offer?It will be interesting to see what the Chairman and Christopher Mill have to say for themselves in the next Half-Yearly Report.
reggiocalabria
20 Jun 2017
Re: Quiet Hard to get an up to date picture, neither HL nor Trustnet give a current breakdown. The II figure seems suspect, given that the annual report gave figures for 31 January 2017 of 16.9% US, 54.7% UK, 28.2% US Treasuries. On those figures NAS is a bit of an oddball and not really comparable with true US trusts. Maybe that accounts for the large discount (even larger if you factor out the treasuries). But I like trusts on discounts, so long as they're not dogs! And the company has been doing some buying back to limit the discount. Performance has been fairly steady over the longer term, so I'll most likely hang on.
holland44
30 Jan 2017
Re: Quiet NAS was recently reclassified in the IT North American Smaller Companies sector, and the portfolio breakdown at Interactive Investor claims it is 100% in the US now, albeit with a substantial holding in treasuries. Unfortunately NAS has had a poor year compared with the two other trusts in this sector (Jupiter and JPM US Smaller).Christopher Mills' Oryx International, despite its name, appears to be the trust to go for UK Small Companies exposure with this manager.
Carefully Does It
29 Jan 2017
Quiet Well, with the changes in the world the UK will need to encourage and nurture smaller companies as growth engines. Christopher Mills has a good track record and the Trust is able to move into Treasuries until it sees value. I hold.
Brent
15 Jul 2015
Seems a good discount and good performance - anyone any views?
