8EC posts maiden dividend
Australian equities small cap manager, Eight Investment Partners (8IP) Emerging Companies (8EC) has posted its maiden dividend of one cent per share for the half-year ended 31 December.
The company said it decided to reward shareholders despite the challenging market conditions and aimed at providing investors with a “stable and rising stream of dividends over the years ahead”.
According to 8EC, revenue and operating profit before tax were up 101 per cent and 66 per cent, respectively.
8IP’s chief investment officer, Kerry Series, said: “The portfolio’s return benefited from the flexibility of our mandate with gains from our decision to short index futures in August and from listing of a pre-IPO position in December.”
He also explained that smaller company stocks sold off from mid-August until December, with the de-rating of many higher P/E growth stocks and outperformance by resource stocks.
8EC’s current share price of $1.01 was at a discount to the pre-tax NTA of $1.1403 as at 31 December, 2016.
8EC’s chairman, Jonathan Sweeney, said: “We do not believe that the discount reflects the good performance of the portfolio and the board is considering all options to seek to narrow the discount.
“We believe that the dividend signals our determination to reward shareholders.”
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