Gresham House Strategic confirms 15p-a-share dividend and buyback

Shares in Gresham House Strategic are up almost 2% after confirming it intends to pay a dividend of 15p a share, and undertake a share buyback, after a strong performance from its portfolio of realised investments.

Together, these would represent half of the company's profit from recent realisations.

The investment company said the dividend was being paid under the new Strategic Public Equity (SPE) strategy adopted in August 2015.

As at 31 March 2017, Gresham House had £1.7m of unaudited profits from realisations, and it intended to distribute £864,573 via dividend and share buybacks, in line with the company's stated policy on shareholder returns.

Non-executive chairman David Potter said the dividend and buyback showed the board's confidence in the long term potential of its SPE strategy.

"Despite the tricky operating environment in the 18 months since we adopted this strategy the Company has made steady progress and investments are well positioned to generate NAV growth."

At about 10:30 GMT, AIM-quoted Gresham House's shares were up 1.82% to 840p each.