Mineral and Financial Investments Limited (LON:MAFL) saw its net asset value (NAV) rise 10.4% from a year earlier in the first quarter of 2020.
NAV rose to £5.3mln from £4.8mln a year earlier while NAV per share jumped 10.6% to 15.1p at the end of March 2020 from 13.6p at the end of March 2019.
What the company calls its “tactical portfolio” broadly benefited from a 5.5% appreciation of the US dollar versus the sterling. Additionally, gradually increasing its weighting in precious metals from the final quarter of 2018 was a net positive for performance, the investment company said.
Base metals have been severely affected by the economic slowdown, the company noted; it estimates the hit from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the quarter to NAV per share was around 0.6% quarter-on-quarter.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is forecasting that global economic activity will decline by 3% year-on-year in 2020; but Mineral and Financial Investments thinks this forecast is on the optimistic side.
On the plus side, it said “the recent marginal growth for commodities generally, and metals specifically has come from emerging and developing economies,” and the IMF reckons emerging and developing countries’ economies will finish 2021 ahead of where they started 2020.
M&F shares were up 3.3% at 7.75p in the first hour of trading.