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ALTUS is an entrepreneurial team of resource professionals. Our business is to develop exceptional opportunities and our approach is to be an innovator, an investor and a valued partner. We are powered by the inspiration, the enthusiasm and the vision of our talented team members, who we are proud to work alongside and who combine to create an energetic and lateral thinking mindset in everything we seek to achieve.
Altus Resource Capital full-year NAV rises 43.6 pct in a year to £1.93
Closed-ended investment company Altus Resource Capital Ltd (LON:ARCL) said the net asset value at the end of the year to June 31 2011 stood at £76.6 million, or £1.93 per share, a 103 percent rise since the company's launch on June 30 2009 and a 43.6 percent rise over the preceding twelve months.
Gold performed well over the year with the price rising 21 percent to close the period at US$1,500 per ounce. Other metals and minerals performed even more strongly with copper, rising 45 percent to close the year at US$9,414 per tonne and silver, which traditionally trades broadly in line with gold on a 60:1 ratio, rising 86 percent to close at US$34.69 per ounce, a ratio of 43:1.
ARC is managed by Altus Capital Ltd which in turn is controlled by Altus Strategies. ARC listed on the Specialist Fund Market of the London Stock Exchange on June 30 2009 and the Channel Island Stock Exchange on December 22 2009 under ‘ARC’.
ARC invests in companies engaged in the exploration, development and/or mining of metals and minerals with a focus on companies that operate in the gold sector. Portfolio companies will be predominantly, but not exclusively, listed or quoted on either UK markets or other recognised stock exchanges including the Canadian and Australian markets.
The fund is planning minor changes to its investment policy and strategy, following its success and growth and to ensure it is appropriately positioned to take advantage of market opportunities and to reflect favourable market conditions within the junior resource sector.
Among other things, it will amend the definition of junior resource equities to those with market capitalisations of less than £500 million at the time of investment or companies that are at an exploration or development stage.
With an active approach to portfolio management and a strong cash position - 22 percent of assets under management – ARCsaid is well positioned to deliver further NAV growth over the coming year.
On outlook, ARC said the investment manager anticipates that the gold price will remain robust, driven by the ongoing uncertainty over sovereign debt levels and the economic recovery of Western economies coupled with the continued strong demand for gold as a safe haven investment asset and, particularly in emerging economies, as a hedge against inflation and store of newly created wealth.
Given the disconnect that has opened up between the gold price and gold equities and the anticipated strength of the gold price, the Investment Manager intends to maintain the focus on gold equities and anticipates strong performance from the gold equities within the portfolio over the next twelve to twenty four months as the disconnect is closed.
Demand for raw materials from emerging economies has driven other commodity prices higher, with supply deficits forecast in a number of major industrial metals and minerals over the coming two to three years.
Corporate M&A activity is expected to continue and be a further driver of equity valuations in the junior and mid-tier sector, ARC added.
