Funding Circle fund announces on target dividend

The investment trust has been in growth mode in the past 12 months, raising money through new share issuance.

The £311m Funding Circle SME Income fund has revealed its latest dividend of 1.625p per share, in line with its forecast rate.

Its eighth pay-out and seventh at the same level – it’s first was 1p, the latest dividend will be paid on 30 April 2018 to shareholders on the register as at the close of business on 23 March 2018 (the record date) and the corresponding ex-dividend date will be 22 March 2018.

The fund is an investment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange that offers exposure to P2P loans originated by the Funding Circle platform. It launched in December 2015 and has a dividend target of 6-7p per share pa, and NAV total return target of 8-9 per cent pa when fully deployed and levered. 

Funding Circle says while the portfolio is performing in line with expectations and the deployment of proceeds raised from the recent tie-up with Citibank is moving forward, in February a slightly elevated level of cash “served as a slight drag on performance. £42mn of the £50mn has now been deployed with the rest substantially invested by the end of March.