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Wow, the intra-day volatility on this share is remarkable. Choppy-changey, choppy-changey, you really wouldn't want much of your assets invested here... stomach-churning!

Any idea regarding 9% jump down

Management get to present these results and answer questions at 11am. Should be fun.

Yes May, last 2 months per Shorttracker.

"No RNS yet from THG on its intentions under the new rules". That's good to know, thanks.

I don't understand why they would open a short at these levels... but then I'm not a shorter.... and they are smarter than me. It certainly makes me nervous. What do they see that I don't? Have they, in terms of this whole "will AI help or hinder the company?" chestnut, come down firmly on the side of "hinder"? Never heard of Hound Partners LLC, but their short is unhelpful and unwelcome.

...to make the listing process easier and to supposedly make London attractive again, including things like dual share structures which founders can make use of, are getting coverage in the press.

Has this been discussed in relation to THG? Will our esteemed CEO be taking advantage, do people think?

Suspect very recent sp weakness may be connected to news that the new labour govt will sanction a (was it?) 5.5% public sector wage settlement. Staffing costs - a big part of Capita's overall costs of course - may rise more than anticipated going forward, as they will need to both keep and attract employees. Margins already thin.

That's all useful colour, thanks.

But will SAGA's insurance business buck the trend of sector-wide weakening margins identified in the article? And will the new govt make good on their election promise to tackle the “soaring cost of car insurance”?

Worries and hopes...

Good to know. Let's see.

Meanwhile, back at the coal face, the share price hits another all-time low. Not far off a 60% discount to NAV now. Sentiment towards the general sector is poor and, of course, this is a relatively new trust without a track record. This may take some time Jim....

Good article. What follows may betray my ignorance, but why doesn't SAGA just close down the insurance business? For years and years I've been reading of a good cruise business saddled with a poor insurance business. I doubt there's any value in the market cap attributable to the insurance business these days. So, close it. Even better, sell it. Did I remember reading they were trying to do that? If it's a struggle, halve the asking price. Or a bigger discount. Just take it off our hands. A clean break.

...but, for the avoidance of doubt, he has, in each of his funds and trusts, underperformed the relevant index in recent years. So, in the Global fund, he's underperformed the Global Equity index and in the UK fund and FGT trust, he's underperformed the UK all-share index.

I'm not defending the man, just getting the facts straight. If I may venture an opinion, I don't think the recent underperformance suddenly makes him a bad investor. Styles come in and out of fashion, do they not? I suspect his style will make more sense sometime in the future. However, I do think that de-globalisation presents a problem - as much for his UK as his Global portfolios.

Re Train. Sorry, he's not trying to blame UK markets for his underperformance. Quite the opposite. If you actually read the Reports and factsheets he's clearly (and regularly) owning up to his recent underperformance against UK indices and expressing his disappointment about it. Anyway, he has a UK mandate, so how can he blame the UK market? He can't say "I'm underperforming the UK market, because I'm in the UK market", can he?

What he has also said, however, is that UK markets have underperformed global (which is not the same thing)... and he's correct in that assertion, obvs. Maybe that's where the confusion lies.

....er, nope!

Investment Week.

"UK retail sales volumes dropped by 1.2% in June across most sectors, with department stores taking a particular hit.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics, the fall in sales volumes followed a 2.9% rise in May. Non-food stores sales volumes fell by 2.1% in June 2024, after 3.3% growth in May.

The decline was led by poor figures in the department stores and clothing retailers sectors, with their sales volumes dropping by 3.4% and 1.6%, respectively, and returning to levels seen in the first quarter of this year.

Retailers argued this came on the back of election uncertainty, along with poor weather and low footfall.

Food stores recorded a 1.1% decline in sales last month, with overall sales in the second quarter dropping by 1.3%.

Online consumer spending was also hit, with values declining by 2.7% in June, down from 2.3% growth recorded a year before".

They recently said on video that they were determined to get this business self-sustaining without the need for any more raises.... and, less than a month later, guess what? They raised!

A 10% dilution at a 27% discount. And no retail offer to go with the raise - we were ignored.

Are there any management teams on AIM one can actually trust?

Hi Dartron, thanks for the articles. As you know, the Kepler people are paid-for content and, myself, I haven't been impressed with the disingenuous way by which, over the years, they explained away the various changes to the trust and the underperformance. They do take a rosy view. But, still, I get where yr coming from Dartron... if I was new to INOV and without my emotional baggage & history!

As for other PE trusts I like, just the obvious ones I'm afraid. I've done very well out of OCI over the years, although I'm not in there atm. It has a persistent discount (don't they all?). I also like PIN and HVPE and am currently invested in both... but my largest position is with CHRY. As I'm sure you know, CHRY went through a v difficult period and they made several significant corporate governance changes, esp to the fee structure, and they put in a lot of work 'proving' their liquidity position and NAV. To me, it looks good from here... because I do like their portfolio of undervalued, late-stage, near-profitable investments, which one can pick up at a 45% discount. Hope that helps a bit - always happy to engage with thoughtful investors.

Sorry, the continuation vote, was already mentioned by you. Yes, I do think there's money to be made there - exiting at anything like NAV would be beneficial, obvs.

If one way or another I get 20p or 30p a share out of this, well, I won't get my money back but I'll be happy. But putting any fresh cash in? Nah... can't do it!

Fair enough Dartron, it's always good to see an investment with fresh eyes. When you say 'Schroders have completely changed this fund', that's their hyperbole but I don't see it. I see an NAV dominated by the old Woodford picks. I haven't seen any or many of the Schroders picks shooting the light out either. And they've made some poor sales. I remember they sold a bunch of Woodford biotechs early on, to get some liquidity, and the very smart purchasers sold them on within a year for double. Plus they keep changing their mind as to the investment policy of this trust. Which doesn't help. It started as all private investments (WPCT), then when Schroders got the mandate they changed to a mix of private and listed investments (as evidenced by the change of name to SUPP), but then they changed again, both the name, to INOV, and the investment policy to 100% private again. Like back to the Woodford days. All over the place is how I would describe the 'Schroder Juniors', as I call them.

You could be totally right about a recovery Dartron - after all, the sp is utterly beaten up after an unrelenting 9 year decline - but this particular jaded holder can't emotionally add any more money here. Anyway, I'm doing better in other PE trusts.

Clearly, ONT re-rating would be major. Its share price has been coming back from a terrible run. Actually I nearly bought some a couple of weeks ago but didn't and have already missed the easy money.

Finally, to throw into the mix, I think there's a continuation vote or some such in a couple of years time, so that could get interesting.