The £451m Honeycomb Investment Trust and the £332m VPC Specialty Lending Investments have declared dividends for the third quarter of 2018, showing the two investment trusts, both focused towards illiquid credit assets.
Honeycomb, which is managed by Pollen Street Capital has declared an interim dividend of 20p for the three-month period to 30 September 2018 while VPC Specialty Lending, managed by Victory Park Capital declared a 2p dividend for the same period.
These numbers, both consistent with their target income payouts put Honeycomb on 7.1 per cent dividend yield and VPC on a 9.8 per cent although in both cases it is important to remember this is backward looking and does not indicate future income potential necessarily.
Closed ended funds listed on the London Stock Exchange, also known as investment trusts, that are focused on this area of lending have expanded in number over the past three or four years. While some have encountered difficulties, most notably Ranger Direct Lending which is now in the process of winding up, Honeycomb has been a veruy consistent performer. VPC has seen its own protracted challenges but it now appears a turn-around in strategy is nearing completion with its discount to Net Asset Value at 11 per cent, compared to nearly 30 per cent at its widest.
