1 May 2020 16:34
London, UK, 1 May 2020
Edison issues review on Standard Life UK Smaller Companies (SLS)
Standard Life UK Smaller Companies (SLS) is managed by Harry Nimmo at Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI). He has a long-term record of meaningful outperformance versus the trust's benchmark. The manager has a clearly defined investment process, focusing on quality, growth and momentum, and uses a proprietary screening tool known as the Matrix to sift the investible universe of c 500 companies. Nimmo retains his disciplined approach regardless of the macro background; he says this has served him well across several market cycles. SLS's board has a progressive dividend policy and aims for a maximum 8% discount in normal market conditions.
SLS is currently trading at a 2.7% discount to cum-income NAV. This compares with the 6.0%, 5.6%, 5.9% and 4.6% average discounts over the last one, three, five and 10 years respectively. The FY19 annual dividend of 7.70p per share was 10% higher year-on-year, which was the largest increase in the last three years. SLS currently offers a 1.8% dividend yield, although it should be noted that c 60% of the trust's holdings have either suspended or deferred their dividends in recent weeks.
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