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Hi All
We get dividends soon from SMT, but how much? £1.60 to the share price, or 1.6%? Thank you.
SMT dont invest in small companies and those that they do invest in get their funding from the likes of SMT not banks
DorsetLSE - I'd say it depends entirely on how those small/private companies have structured their borrowing.
I don't know about Smithson, but the private companies SMT invests in aren't small in terms of capitalisation.
And I doubt many - if any - will become insolvent. What it MIGHT affect though is the level of valuation they can secure on future funding rounds.
There was an article in the FT yesterday about how companies that have borrowed heavily during the period of low interest rates are starting to suffer as rates rise to more historically normal levels. In particular this is a problem for smaller companies which will probably become insolvent and also private companies. Got me thinking about SMT and some of my smaller company funds like Smithson. Any views?
As others have said, whether SMT turns a corner or not is completely immaterial compared to the misery of conflict.
We should all be very grateful that we're governed by incompetent but pacifist buffoons. As opposed to the incompetent warmongering variety.
I'd still urge a bit of caution on inflation. At least in the short term.
Whilst I believe it'll drop on a 12-18 month view, it would only take the Middle Eastern conflict to widen for oil prices to sky rocket. And we all know what energy price spikes do for global inflation......
At the moment, to their great credit, the US in particular is acting as a powerful tension defuser. But it's impossible to say yet whether any uneasy truce (or reduction in inflammatory retribution) will last.
Dear Walp
That's the problem in my opinion. As you say, too much short termism. People want instant gratification. As interest rates and inflation recede, I believe that SMT will put on its running shoes and be back on the race track. Let's hope so anyway.
Agree with you Walp, I've seen a lot more positive articles in relation to SMT lately, when it was all doom and gloom a few months back relating to the unlisted companies, etc. If we can hit £7 again and hold it, that'd be a good start. Sentiment over the pond seems to be improving with people potentially eying up equities again for 2024. It may take a bit more to get people out of fixed income and back into shares.
Agreed Mr Americano (although many disagree).
Before this we need to turn the sentiment corner which involves people seeing the currently economic world situation that delays profits in future ideas to be receding to the point that investment and returns become more near sighted.
Sensible technology investment will always succeed (on average) as it revolves every human aspiration.
Dear Walp
We don't need to worry anymore. We have the best fund managers in the business at the helm. Investing in amazing companies that generate great returns...in 10-20 years time..
After the constant stalling in the tech investment confidence stakes, I barely dare breathe it but do wonder whether we are on the cusp of recovery. I'm definitely sensing a renewed optimism.
Here's hoping another catastrophic and awful world event doesn't scupper it.
Having said that lot, my heart and wishes are with the poor Palestinian people at the moment and it feels wrong to wish for investment recovery whilst things are so awful for them right now.
Despicable act by Hamas, but more cynically (I feel) a fantastic fully Westernised endorsed further land grab opportunity for Israel?
Apologies for the politics above investing, but My Lord, doesn't political foresight and diverge with it?
@Steeplejack..Is there anything of interest that hasn't been reported elsewhere?
Not performing well bla bla bla
NAV gap bla bla bla
30% PE bla bla bla
Leadership team sticking to the investment strategy bla bla bla
MrAmericano - with any luck, Misty’s superpowers are telling her (and us) a treat’s soon coming our way, courtesy of SMT.
After all, they HAVE been a bit short on the ground of late.
On a far less serious note, SMT’s managers / PR team do seem to be getting themselves out there a bit more just now. Which possibly indicates they sense a bit of investor unrest. No bad thing if they felt their feet were being held to the fire once in a while.
LordLL
Misty's tail is most definitely wagging, although that maybe due to the rustle of a treat coming her way!
MrAmericano - well I'm sure we ALL now want to know whether Misty gives SMT a wagging or motionless tail.....
Dear All
The half-year SMT report makes very interesting reading, such that I must confess that I really don't have a clue as to what I have invested inti. Some of the names I have heard of, but many I haven't the foggiest as to what they do. Serves me right for not researching more in depth. On the positive side, Misty is now learning to read financial jargon, so that she can make more informed investment decisions than I! A tail wag is a buy, a motionless tail is a stay well away.
Good luck to you all.
SteepleJack
That's because LB still believes all is fine with MRNA long term, he stated this last week in the Q&As webinar.
Its a robust apologia of their investment style which is understandable given the group has underperformed their peers of late.The reference to SMT borrowings averaging only 3% up to 2036 is a feather in their cap.
I suppose part of the explanation for the sizeable discount to NAV is down to the 30% of the portfolio being in private companies.Whether investors like it or not,the pool of attractive listed companies is not only shrinking but fresh entrants are rapidly decreasing.A lot of companies are eschewing listing and remaining private.You need an SMT to seek out those private companies.
Nvidia gets a mention but not Moderna .Oh well,maybe in the Annual Report :)
"A pretty positive message from SMT"
Can you seriously see one of the largest investment growth trust out there to issue a statement....."We're in bad shape/We have no clue what we're doing/we keep picking bad horses/we can't explain the >15% discount to NAV"?
A pretty positive message from SMT
It might be back of the envelope stuff but you can get a pretty clear idea of how SMT
has handled its holding in Moderna from tracking the % of the fund accounted for by the holding and relating it to the movement in the shares.Moderna was some 10% of SMT and as the price fell,the amount of the fund it accounted decreased much in line.I don’t think that the holding in SMT has been traded frankly,its not really SMTs approach is it?