Did you sell in May and go away? I didn’t, although judging by my portfolio performance during the month, perhaps I should have. I can track this sogginess to the very day that the Prime Minister announced a general election, so hopefully things will soon get better again and the UK market will regain its mojo.

In actual, meaningful company news it has been a bit of a mixed bag this month, so without further ado…

Corporate News

AdvancedADVT (ADVT) – Year End Trading Update and Acquisition. Following a change of year end to 29th February, ADVT reported continued progress ahead of the pre-acquisition numbers, as reported in the recent interims. The announcement also came with news of the acquisition of Celaton for £5m, although it should be noted that this was a related party transaction. That said, it does look highly complementary to the IBSS business and decent value given prior year revenue of £3.3m and EBITDA of £1.2m. The group remains in a strong cash position, just shy of £80m following this acquisition plus an investment in M&C Saatchi worth over £20m.   

Tp Icap (TCAP) – Q1 Trading Update. As per the recent full year results, first quarter performance was somewhat mixed, although in line with current market expectations. The main focus for me now that the juicy final dividend has been paid is the development of Parameta Solutions where the company “continues to explore options to unlock the value, including a potential IPO of a minority stake in the business”.

Gamma Communications (GAMA) – Q1 Trading Update. In line with expectations which would equate to 15% profit growth for the year.

Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY) – FY Results and Acquisition. Despite delivering an outstanding performance for the year (revenue +30%, profits +57%, dividend +25%), the share price reacted negatively to modest guidance for the new financial year. Subsequently, the share price has reacted positively to a major acquisition of the academic publishing arm of Rowman & Littlefield for £65m. It is a big bet that’s for sure and one where the strategic and cultural fit looks excellent.

Puretech Health (PRTC) – Launch of Tender Offer. As anticipated a launch of the $100m tender offer at 250p per share. There was also news of a disposal of founded entity Akili for ~$5.4m and confirmation that another founded entity, Vedanta Biosciences, has enrolled its first patient in a “Pivotal Phase 3 Restorative Study of VE303 for the Prevention of Recurrent C. difficile Infection”.

Ingenta (ING) – FY Results. Solid but relatively flat performance from this publishing software microcap and also my smallest individual holding. Revenue up ~3%, adjusted earnings per share up ~12% and dividend up 19%. The current year (we are now 5 months into that year given the rather late reporting) is stated as in line with expectations which would equate to a modest revenue increase of around 4%.

Impax Asset Management (IPX) – Interim Results. As expected, this specialist ESG asset manager reported overall Assets under Management (AuM) growth for the half year of 5.9% to £39.6bn, albeit this incorporated £2.7bn of net outflows which were more than offset by positive market movements. I say “as expected’ because the company told us of these numbers in their AuM update on 9th April. Given this, it is hard to fathom why the share price has fallen nearly 15% on this news.

CT Private Equity (CTPE) – Q1 Update. A first quarter Net Asset Value (NAV) decline of 1.4% was a little disappointing. That said, the accompanying commentary was more upbeat with a number of interesting new investments and several realisations above NAV. Debt is a little higher than I would prefer, especially with the company engaging in some share buybacks, although the lead manager, Hamish Mair, seems comfortable with both. And of course, the quarterly dividend was maintained at the prior level which currently represents a yield of over 6%.

Dividends

There have been four dividends received this month from Games Workshop (GAW), Mony Group, formerly Moneysupermarket.com  (MONY), Me Group (MEGP) and Tp Icap (TCAP). All were pretty sizeable and have taken dividend receipts to 50% of my annual forecast and therefore, currently running a month ahead of schedule.

Portfolio Changes

None.

Stockopedia Masterclass

A quick heads-up that there is another Stockopedia masterclass next week, focused on how to use StockRanks to make the most of the UK market recovery. These are normally very worthwhile sessions to attend being both insightful and educational. And, as ever, it is completely free of charge. You can register here

Closing Thoughts

In what is truly becoming the year of the takeover of UK PLC, there is still not even the whiff of a takeover in my own UK oriented portfolio. Should I be worried? No, I don’t think so. I own a mixture of family/founder owned companies and for those that don’t fit that profile, trading is mostly going well. My working hypothesis is that if bids do come along they will be at a healthy premium and if they don’t, I will continue to own high quality, growing companies. In the past, I have taken the view that a takeover is both a blessing and a curse because you get the sugar rush of an instant gain but the headache of trying to find a suitable replacement. At the moment though, I have a small number of investment trusts that I am looking to build a position in (as per my April update) where a takeover or two would help to speed things up. That said, I am trying not to be impatient which as regular readers will know, is a known character flaw that I have to wrestle with from time to time.

Until next time, happy investing!

Simon
@BrilliantLeader

Disclosure – At the time of writing my portfolio consists of the companies shown in the graphic below or if you are reading this article in the future, my latest quarterly disclosure can be viewed here.