
Ordinary Shares

Price (p)	150.00
Published NAV	166.80
Yield	1.56
Discount	-10.23

Prices correct as of close 2010-07-29. Last Published NAV is as at the previous business day. Source: Trustnet

Sigma Shares

Price (p)	66.00
Published NAV	86.30
Yield	1.36
Discount	-23.76

Prices correct as of close 2010-07-29. Last Published NAV is as at the previous business day. Source: Trustnet

For Sigma Shares

May 2010
Small cap Pan European real estate stocks fell 7.14% in May. This was a significantly better performance than the full FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Europe Index (in GBP) which fell 8% in total return terms and -9% capital only. The difference between capital only and total return reflects the amount of dividend income which was posted in the month. Dividend payments in the small cap universe accounted for just 20bps of performance in the month. Once again, there was large performance disparity at a national level and this was an important driver of performance in the month. Swedish stocks account for 17.5% of Sigma and in GBP terms they collectively fell only -2.1% in the month. Not surprisingly, the other major non - Euro denominated stocks, the UK and Switzerland, also performed relatively well; the latter particularly (falling just 2.4%) and once again proving its safe haven credentials. A capital intensive, leveraged asset class such as real estate was always going to perform poorly when uncertainty once again surrounds the banking sector. Much has been made of the pan Euro ownership of sovereign debt but this equally applies to cross border real estate lending. Core markets such as France and the Netherlands underperformed alongside Greece and Italy. Sigma’s total return was -9.1% which reflected its position in a number of small cap stocks which fell heavily in the month. In the UK these included a number of stocks which would be impacted by any further weakening in the residential market, Safestore (-11%) and Grainger (-13.3%). Investors remain wary ahead of the emergency budget and the sentiment extended to any stock likely to be impacted by reduced public spending. The most obvious candidate is Unite, the student housing developer-owner which fell 12.6% in the month. In France, a number of our smallest companies suffered disproportionately from widening bid-offer spreads and general reluctance to buy micro caps. We remain positive about these businesses’ underlying assets and will hold through these volatile times. They are all focused on the Paris region and we believe that the core capital city assets be it London, Paris, Stockholm or even Madrid are the submarkets to own right now.