P2PGI grows NAV and draws line under Urica
P2P Global Investments (P2PGI) appears to be on the path to recovery, after posting another month of net asset value (NAV) growth.
The alternative finance-focused investment trust increased its NAV by 0.5 per cent in August. This follows growth of 0.52 per cent in July – which was the fund’s strongest month in 2018.
The announcement coincided with the purchase of 4,000 shares by the board at a price of 776.8p, which represents a 0.8 per cent discount to today’s share price of 783p. This forms part of their drive to narrow the investment trust’s persistent discount to NAV, which currently stands at 18.4 per cent.
Read more: Share buybacks help boost P2PGI NAV
P2PGI’s share price tumbled in July after the London-listed fund wrote off an equity investment worth around £5.5m in Urica, when the invoice payments platform put itself into liquidation following a fraud attack in France earlier in the year. The investment had equated to 0.74 per cent of NAV.
The announcement caused the investment trust’s discount to widen and it has largely traded around the 18 per cent mark since August. P2PGI still has an outstanding exposure of £24.4m to Urica Europe.
Simon Champ, the founder and former manager of the alternative lending fund, left the business in June.
Since its launch on 30 May 2014, the investment trust has grown its NAV by 17.7 per cent. However, it has been a different story for the share price, which is down 25.8 per cent over the same period.