Strategic Equity Capital – Confident despite short term setback – After a strong period of performance in 2017, when Strategic Equity Capital (SEC) beat a strong small cap index by 6%, 2018 has proved more problematic.
Short-term performance has been impacted by stock specific price weakness within SEC’s concentrated portfolio (see pages 5-6). SEC’s managers are long-term investors, however. They have confidence in their portfolio, based on three-to-five-year investment theses, and bought shares in the trust throughout Q2 2018, now owning around 4% of it. SEC’s discount is towards the bottom end of its trading range; and the managers believe that this could represent an opportunity. The board has authorised share repurchases to stabilise the discount.
Focused UK small companies portfolio
SEC aims to achieve absolute returns over a medium-term period, principally through capital growth. SEC is managed with a focused portfolio of investments selected on the same basis that a private equity investor would use to appraise its investments.
SEC : Strategic Equity Capital – Confident despite short term setback