The annual results for the Schroder UK Public Private Trust that are set to cover the period during which the mandate was yanked from Neil Woodford are to be delayed due to the coronavirus volatility.
The £583m investment trust, previously known as Woodford Patient Capital, was set to announce its results in April for the year ending 31 December 2019. Woodford managed the trust for the bulk of the period covered by the results with the board announcing it was handing the reins to the private equity team at Schroders in late October 2019, shortly after Link Fund Solutions dropped him as manager on his flagship Woodford Equity Income fund.
Shareholders who have stuck by the investment trust will now have to wait until at least late April to get more details on the tumultuous period, a regulatory filing on Thursday confirmed. Annual results for investment trusts typically include more extensive commentary from the manager, commentary from the board, a breakdown of performance, plus information around remuneration and the fund’s policies.
This follows an announcement from the Financial Conduct Authority that it will be relaxing the rules around company reporting during the coronavirus crisis. The regulator said on Thursday it would give listed companies prepping their audited financial statements an additional two months to do so.
Initially it had been pushing for companies to delay preliminary figures until at least the following fortnight, a move that was supported by the Financial Reporting Council.
The Schroder UK Public Private Trust said it was its audited annual results that were being delayed.
NAV changes as discount widens to levels not seen under Woodford
The board revealed it had been planning to announce a shift from daily to quarterly net asset value reporting in the annual results but that would now happen with immediate effect. The move had been described as logical and in-line with peers when it was first floated in September, while Woodford was still manager of the trust.
Additionally, Link Fund Solutions on Wednesday reduced the value of three unnamed holdings held by Schroder UK Public Private that will knock 3.97% of the NAV. It will be reflected in the first quarterly NAV report dated 31 March 2020.
Coronavirus has stretched the discount to NAV to record levels with it hitting 61.35% on Monday, according to Association of Investment Companies data. The widest discount under Woodford’s tenure had been 52.03% on 23 October 2019, one day before he was dropped from the trust.
The discount to net asset value had been much narrower before the wheels started to come off at Woodford Investment Management sitting at 14.07% at the end of May 2019, the week before the Woodford Equity Income fund suspended.
Shareholders will be informed about the first quarterly NAV valuation before the end of June, the board said. The valuation updates will also include information about the new private investments, any realisations and material updates from private companies in the portfolio.
