The Company may hold cash on deposit and may invest in cash equivalent investments, which may include short- term investments in money market-type funds ("Cash and Cash Equivalents").

There is no restriction on the amount of Cash and Cash Equivalents that the Company may hold and there may be times when it is appropriate for the Company to have a significant Cash and Cash Equivalents position. For the avoidance of doubt, the restrictions set out above in relation to investing in collective investment vehicles do not apply to money market type funds.

Changes to the investment policy

Any material change to the Company's investment policy set out above will require the approval of Shareholders by way of an ordinary resolution at a general meeting and the approval of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Investment strategy

The Company seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing in a diversified portfolio of public and private debt and debt-like instruments of which at least 70% is investment grade. The Company is mainly invested in private debt instruments. This part of the portfolio generally includes debt instruments which are nominally quoted but are generally illiquid. Most of these will be floating rate instruments, purchased at inception and with the intention to be held to maturity or until prepaid by issuers; shareholders can expect their returns from these instruments to come primarily from the interest paid by the issuers.

The remainder of the Company's portfolio is invested in cash, cash equivalents and quoted debt instruments, which are more readily available and which can generally be sold at market prices when suitable opportunities arise. These instruments may also be traded to take advantage of market conditions. Fixed rate instruments will often be hedged in order to protect the portfolio from adverse changes in interest. Shareholders can expect their returns from this part of the portfolio to come from a combination of interest income and capital movements.

Investment process The investment process for the Company consists of a number of stages: the decision to invest, monitoring of investments and ongoing engagement and divestment.

Investment decision-making is undertaken by the Investment Manager, who determine whether an investment is appropriate for the Company's investment mandate. Investments are only made after extensive research based on information, research and analysis from the Investment Manager's in-house analysts and external sources. The investment process is designed to ensure that the risk and return profile of investments is fully understood.

Regular monitoring of investments enables determination of whether an investment remains appropriate. This includes monitoring the performance of investments by fund managers, analysts and internal control and governance processes. The Investment Manager proactively engages with relevant parties on any issue which may, potentially, affect an investment's ability to deliver sustainable performance in line with expectations.

At some point, the Investment Manager may decide to divest from an investment (or the investment may complete in line with agreed terms, including pre-payment). This might be for a variety of reasons including; the investment being no longer suitable for the investment mandate, the outcome of engagement being unsatisfactory or as a result of the investment team's valuation assessment. Investment decision making is only undertaken by the fund managers designated by the Investment Manager.

As part of the investment process, full consideration is given to sustainability risk, as set our in more detail below.

Key performance indicators In order to measure the success of the Company in meeting its objectives and policy, and to evaluate the performance of the Investment Manager, the Directors take into account the following key performance indicators (KPIs):


                                                   as at or 
                                       as at or    perioda ended 
                                       year ended 
                                       31 December 31 December 
                                       2020 
                                                   2019 
NAV per share                          101.40p     101.72p 
Ordinary Share price (mid-market)      92.00p      106.00p 
(Discount)/premium to NAVb             (9.27)%     4.21% 
Annualised dividend yieldb             4.65%       3.13% 
Dividends declared per Ordinary Share  4.28p       3.74p 
Revenue return per Ordinary Share      2.9p        2.6p 
NAV total returnb                      3.7%        5.6% 
Share price total returnb              (9.7)%      8.2% 
Ongoing charges figureb                0.87%       0.93% 

a From the date of Initial Public Offering (IPO) 14 November 2018.

b Alternative performance measures. Please see pages 108 to 109 of the full Annual Report and Accounts for further information.

Share price discount or premium to NAV

The share price discount to NAV as at 31 December 2020 was (9.27)% (31 December 2019: 4.21% premium). During the year to 31 December 2020 the shares traded at an average discount to NAV of 1.59%.

Dividend yield

The Company paid dividends during the year on a quarterly basis. The second dividend of 1.65p per Ordinary Share in respect of the period ended 31 December 2019 was paid on 28 February 2020.

The first quarterly dividend in respect of the year ended 31 December 2020 of 0.85p per Ordinary Share in respect of the year ended 31 December 2020 was paid on 28 May 2020. The second quarterly dividend of 0.77p per Ordinary Share was paid on 28 August 2020 and the third quarterly dividend of 0.71p per Ordinary Share was paid on 27 November 2020.

The fourth quarterly dividend of 1.95p per Ordinary Share was paid on 26 February 2021. The total dividend declared per share for the year ended 31 December 2020 was 4.28p (period ended 31 December 2019: 3.74p).

The annualised dividend yield for the year was 4.65%, based on the closing share price on 31 December 2020 (for the period since IPO, based on the closing share price on 31 December 2019, the yield was 3.13%).

Portfolio performance

In support of the Company's investment objective, the Board monitors the portfolio performance against the benchmark of a NAV total return of LIBOR plus 4% per annum. In addition, performance is assessed against a number of total return indices in public investment grade and high yield markets.

In addition, progress of deployment of funds into private assets is monitored alongside the balance of fixed to floating rate coupons, yield to maturity and modified duration of the portfolio. Further details are provided in the Chairman's statement and Investment Manager's report above.

Ongoing charge

The Board reviews the costs of running the Company calculated using the Association of Investment Companies' (AIC) methodology for the ongoing charges.

Risk management

Role of the Board

The Directors have overall responsibility for risk management and internal control within the Company. They recognise that risk is inherent in the Company's operation and that effective risk management is an important element in the success of the organisation. The Directors have delegated responsibility for the assurance of the risk management process and the review of mitigating controls to the Audit Committee.

The Directors, when setting the risk management strategy, also determine the nature and extent of the significant risks and their risk appetite in implementing this strategy.

In arriving at its judgement of what risks the Company faces, the Board has considered the Company's

operations in the light of the following factors: ? the nature and extent of risks it regards as acceptable for the Company to bear in line with its overall business

objective; ? the threat of such risks becoming reality; ? the Company's ability to reduce the incidence and impact of risk on its performance; ? the cost to the Company and benefits related to the review of risk and associated controls of the Company; and ? the extent to which the third-party service providers operate the relevant controls.

Principal risks

The Company is exposed to a variety of risks that could cause the valuation of its assets and/or the income from the investment portfolio to fluctuate. The Board, through delegation to the Audit Committee, has undertaken a robust assessment and review of the principal and emerging risks facing the Company, including those that would threaten its business model, future performance, solvency or liquidity. Accordingly, the Audit Committee has taken into consideration the risks posed to the Company by the societal and economic impacts of governmental responses to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and considers this to be a major ongoing risk event which has the potential to affect the likelihood of occurrence and materiality of impact of the Company's principal risks on its net asset value and performance. The pandemic has triggered, and may continue to trigger, increased volatility in terms of global risk asset valuations as well as presenting operational challenges for the Company's service providers as they respond to various limitations on free movement of staff imposed by governments across the world. The Board continues to receive regular reporting from the Company's major service providers and does not anticipate a fall in the level of service. The duration and ultimate impact of the pandemic is not presently possible to predict and the Board will continue to monitor and report on material developments on an ongoing basis.

These risks are formally documented in the Company's risk register, so that the risks identified and the controls in place to mitigate those risks can be monitored. Any new or emerging risks that are identified and that are considered to be of significance are also included in the Company's risk register together with any mitigating actions required.

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

April 28, 2021 02:01 ET (06:01 GMT)