'Formidable' small-cap headwind hits Polar tech trust

Tech star Ben Rogoff has blamed the "formidable headwind" of small caps for a 5% fall in NAV for the Polar Capital Technology trust over the six months to 31 October 2011.

Total net assets fell 4.5% to £447m over the half year, while the price per ordinary share fell from 373.5p to 353.5p from the year ended 30 April 2011. The trust had 10.6% in holdings with a market cap below $1bn, and almost 20% in mid caps of $1bn-$10bn in size as at 31 October 2011. Large-cap names had proved resilient to market shocks, Rogoff said, with Apple up 15.6% over the reporting period and IBM rising 8.2%. “The marked underperformance of small-cap stocks created a formidable investment headwind we were unable to overcome, our own net asset value per share falling 5% ove...