(Alliance News) - Schroder British Opportunities Trust PLC on Thursday said that its net asset value was up and that it had swung to a profit in its annual report.
Schroder British, the London-based public and private investment company, said its net asset value increased in its financial year ended March 31 to GBP79.3 million from GBP78.1 million. The company said this reflected a "resilient NAV performance since inception" against challenging economic headwinds.
The company swung to a pretax profit of GBP2.0 million from a loss of GBP3.2 million the year before.
Schroder British said it had GBP7.8 million available cash for future investments on March 31, and that 65% of total investments are now in private companies.
Chair Neil England said: "In certain areas of the private equity market there has been significant downwards revaluation, although this has generally not been the case in the part of the market that we focus on.
"Our current portfolio of growing and innovative British companies are expected to perform well. The patient investor that can look beyond the recent and current environment should be well rewarded."
The company did not declare a dividend, stating it was focused on providing capital growth.
Schroder British said the economic outlook was challenging, and many company valuations were trading close to historic lows.
"Having avoided a recession, the UK's economy is showing some positive signs with inflation seemingly peaked, which in turn should limit further interest rate rises. Small and mid-cap stocks are expected to be early beneficiaries from any recovery."
Shares in Schroder British Opportunities Trust were down 0.2% at 66.90 pence in London on Thursday afternoon.
By Will Neill, Alliance News reporter
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Schroder Brit (SBO)