Key points
■ Sterling weakness trims net asset value
■ Shares still trading at 32% to NAV
■ Cash pile rises to £31.6m
Sterling strengthening against the dollar trimmed LMS Capital's net asset value by 2p to 88p between January and March, and since then a poor return from its investment in Weatherford International has trimmed it by a further 1p, but the private equity investment company reckons its portfolio is performing well enough given the tough trading climate. In the first quarter, the company's US investment portfolio was down less than 3 per cent at £138.4m and the UK portfolio 2.5 per cent to £213m.
Moreover, calls of £1.5m from its outstanding fund commitments in the first three months of this year were more than covered by distributions from its fund interests of £4.7m, and as more realisations are completed there is considerable scope for the large share price discount to NAV to narrow significantly.
