Gresham House Strategic (GHS) describes itself as a ‘strategic public equity’ fund, meaning it takes a private equity-style approach to investing mainly in listed companies, buying significant stakes and engaging proactively with holdings to create and unlock value through operational, strategic and management initiatives. It currently has 18 holdings (15 equities and three convertible loan notes) spread across a range of industries, but all based in the UK. Performance has been strong in the past year (NAV TR +22.6% and share price TR +52.5% over 12 months to 31 January 2020), with a large contribution from top holding Augean (share price +224% in 2019). The management team at Gresham House argues that this validates the strategy, and the narrowing in the discount over the past 12 months (from c 25% to 2.3% in late 2019) suggests the market is beginning to appreciate what GHS offers.
The market opportunity
While stock markets have performed strongly over the past year, equities still look reasonably valued on a global basis versus negative-yielding bonds.
Gresham House Strategic (LON:GHS) is an independent, AIM-quoted investment company that invests primarily in smaller UK public companies. The team applies private equity techniques, constructive engagement and due diligence alongside a long-term value investment strategic equity investment philosophy
