SSIF.L Share News (SSIF)

LONDON (Alliance News) - SQN Secured Income Fund PLC said on Friday cut its first half dividend payment due to a drop in net asset value.

Net asset value as at the end of December was GBP51.9 million, or 98.45 pence per share, down from GBP52.9 million or 100.42p per share on the same date the year before.

The share price as at December 31 was 93.625 pence, representing a discount to net asset value of 4.9%, narrowed from 6.9% the prior year.

Shares in the investment company remained flat at 91.25 pence on Friday.

SQN Secured said it has made good progress on its strategic objectives of moving its portfolio towards direct loans from investment platforms, since SQN Asset Management Ltd started managing the fund in April 2017.

Direct loans now represents 36% of the portfolio, with the maturity profile of platform loans in line with the strategy to reduce platform exposure to 20% of the portfolio.

For the period, SQN Secured Income paid a dividend of 3.15 pence per share, down from 3.60p the year before.

"The investment manager's focus remains on Europe and the US and it will continue to rationalise both the number of platforms and the holdings within them while increasing investment in secured direct lending. The outlook for direct lending opportunities remains very promising with interest rates stable, albeit likely slowly to increase," said Chairman Richard Hills.

"The board's strategy remains in line with the company's investment guidelines - our goal is to produce a stable income stream for our shareholders from a diversified portfolio of loans to small and medium-sized businesses," Hills added.