Small cap experts with 21 years of dividend growth

Athelney Trust (ATY) is a Main Market listed investment trust with a portfolio which is  focused on small (£50-230m market cap) UK companies. All investments are liquid, either fully LSE listed or via a trading facility on AIM or AQSE.

Although the strategy is total return, the portfolio is deliberately weighted towards assets with strong income generation characteristics. This supports ATY’s commitment to progressive distributions, reflected in its membership of the AIC’s ‘Dividend Heroes’, a short list of investment companies that increased distributions for at least 20 consecutive years.

The shares trade at a c 10% discount to 204.7p NAV/share (31 January 2024) and ATY agreed a 9.8p/share dividend in FY23 equivalent to a 5.3% yield. The underlying portfolio is also well diversified by company and sector, invested in entities in sound financial condition and well positioned competitively.

We see the portfolio as well placed to benefit as market sentiment towards UK smaller companies and investment trusts progressively improves. We would consequently expect the trust’s NAV to appreciate, along with the existing high discount of its shares to NAV diminishing.