(Alliance News) - Honeycomb Investment Trust PLC on Thursday said its assets were flat over 2019 and maintains confidence in its investment manager amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
At December 31, the trust's NAV per share, cum income, stood at 1,014.9 pence each, down slightly from 1,015.7p at the end of 2018.
Honeycomb's net assets were broadly flat at GBP400.4 million compared to GBP400.7 million the year before.
Ex income, NAV per share slipped slightly to 998.2p from 999.8p at the same point the year before. Net assets fell to GBP393.8 million from GBP394.4 million.
Honeycomb declared 80.0p of dividends in 2019, unchanged on 2018.
The trust's NAV return was 7.8% which reflects, the company said, its strategy of selecting only the assets that meet the "strict" risk adjusted returns criteria and maintaining strong credit quality through predominantly lending on secured assets supported by specialist underwriting expertise.
The portfolio is diversified across two types of facilities, structured loans and whole loans, and three sectors, consumer, property and SME.
Looking ahead, the trust's investment manager said it continues to have "faith" in the strength of the performance of the asset class despite the "unprecedented conditions".
"The group is well diversified with the underlying loan portfolios being highly granular with low concentration risk. It has maintained a close and proactive engagement with all platform partners and forbearance has been applied sensitively and proportionately. It believes that this approach together with the structural protection and asset backing of the portfolio will keep the group in a robust position. The unsecured component of the portfolio is seasoned and stable such that the Investment Manager believes that the group is well positioned to perform robustly throughout the crisis. The portfolio has demonstrated in 2019 that it delivers strong yields with high levels of bad debt coverage," the manager added.
Shares in Honeycomb Investment Trust closed down 0.4% in London on Thursday afternoon at 737.00 pence each.
By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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