CRYSTAL Amber, the activist investor which holds stakes in Scottish listed companies, has highlighted the “price weakness” of stocks such as STV Group as its interim results showed an eight per cent fall in net asset value (NAV) to £186.3 million.
The Guernsey-based fund, which has a 14.5% stake in STV, highlighted the drop in the broadcaster’s share price over the second half of last year as its NAV per share fell by 6.7 per cent to 190.69p in the six months to December 31. Glasgow-based STV’s share price fell from 384p at the close of trading on June 30 to 325p on December 29. However it has risen this year, and closed up 5p at 365p last night.
As well as the STV share price, Crystal Amber also highlighted the weakness of GI Dynamics over the period, noting that it offset significant contributions to NAV performance from FairFX, NCC and Ocado.
The fund noted its concerns over corporate governance at Hurricane Energy, as highlighted by the North Sea-focused company’s former chairman Robert Arnott when he stepped down in November. It had been critical of the Hurricane board’s handling of a fundraising last year. Crystal Amber, which holds an 8% stake in Surrey-based Hurricane, said it is now actively engaging with the Surrey-based company on the recruitment of a “credible” chairman.
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