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Bellevue Healthcare Trust PLC on Thursday said its net asset value has fallen in the latest half year as the sector’s difficulties continue, but insists it will see long-term benefits as healthcare systems re-focus. The London-based healthcare sector investment company, which is managed by Bellevue Asset Management Ltd, said its NAV at May 31 was 159.62 pence per share, down 6.7% from 171.16p at November 30, 2022 but up 6.1% from 150.41p on May 31, 2022. The November value represented a 7.4% decrease from 184.91p at the same time a year prior. Bellevue’s shares were down 0.4% at 154.40p in London on Thursday. Bellevue reported a NAV return of negative 4.9% for the half year ended May 31, compared with negative 17% for the same period the year before. NAV total return for the year ending November 30 was negative 4.1% in financial 2022, down from positive 10.3% the previous year and positive 25% the year before that. ‘In this post-Covid world, we face numerous challenges - many of which are interlinked. Coming out of Covid we have seen a ’reset’ of global supply chains and a backlog of healthcare demand,’ said Chair Randeep Grewal. ‘The shortage of workforce has been particularly acute in the healthcare sector so the ’demand - supply’ balance appears to be particularly out of balance in this sector.’ Grewal added that increased prices sparked by the Ukraine war, along with rising interest rates, have exacerbated Bellevue’s difficulties. Nonetheless, Bellevue Healthcare said it will pay an interim and final dividend for financial 2023, both 2.995p per share and funded from its distributable reserves. It has however suspended its scrip dividend option ‘for the time being’ due to ‘falling take-up’ since its introduction in 2019. Also on Thursday, Bellevue said it introduced a record date of September 2 for its annual voluntary share redemption facility. The latest date for redemption requests is November 2. The company said it anticipates ‘material redemptions’ this year, given that shares are trading at a 6.7% discount to the NAV. Looking ahead, Grewal reassured shareholders that Bellevue’s portfolio is ‘well positioned to benefit in the long term.’ ‘Covid-19 had a profound impact on healthcare,’ he added. ‘As backlogs are processed, and the focus of healthcare systems changes from crisis management to more strategic issues it is likely that we will see improved adoption of the products and technologies of the companies the portfolio is invested in. ‘Indeed, one might argue that the pressures we have seen on healthcare systems makes this inevitable.’ Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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