Kelso Group Holdings (LON: KLSO), a small Main Market investment vehicle that runs a concentrated portfolio of UK-listed “best ideas”, said its unaudited net asset value per share rose 43% to 3.3p in the eight months to 31 August, up from around 2.3p at the end of 2025.
The company’s shares closed at 3.5p yesterday, down 5.4% from 3.7p, a move that came before today’s results were published and cannot be read as the market’s reaction to them. The stock has traded between 2.22p and 3.7p over the past year.
Unaudited net assets grew to £15.2m from £10.3m at the start of the year, with unaudited pre-tax profit for the eight-month period of around £4.8m. Kelso runs a highly concentrated, ten-stock portfolio, with gross investments of about £23m against those net assets, implying roughly 33% gearing funded through a CMC dealing facility charging 7.8% annual interest.
The gains are traceable to specific holdings. The Works.co.uk (LON: WRKS), Kelso’s largest position at 24% of the portfolio, has risen 155% since purchase, while NCC Group (LON: NCC), the cybersecurity firm, is up 7% including dividends, and Saga (LON: SAGA), the over-50s travel and insurance group, is up 73%. CVS Group (LON: CVSG), the veterinary services provider, is flat. Kelso also fully exited a holding in Filtronic (LON: FTC), the radio-frequency technology maker, booking a 119% gain in under six months after buying at an average 185p and selling at 406p.
Management links the performance to a broader thesis that UK small and mid-caps are undervalued and increasingly targets for takeovers, citing broker Peel Hunt’s tally of 154 UK-listed companies acquired since 2023 for a combined £165bn. Chairman Sir Nigel Knowles said: “Kelso may be small, but its ambition is considerable. The multi-disciplinary experience of our Board gives us a distinctly different perspective, focussed on the long-term core and intrinsic value of each company. Our Board-level experience is deep, and our processes are thorough, as befits a public company. Kelso has made a positive start to 2026, which we hope marks the beginning of sustained market-beating performance.”
Since its initial fundraising at 2p a share in January 2023, Kelso says NAV per share has grown around 115%, against roughly 30% for comparable Main Market indices over the same period, though the shares remain thinly traded and the portfolio’s concentration and gearing add risk beyond the headline NAV growth.