Albion Technology & General VCT PLC - Ordinary ...

Albion Technology & General VCT PLC - Ordinary Shares : Interim Management Statement

Albion Technology & General VCT PLC Interim Management Statement

Introduction

I present Albion Technology & General VCT PLC (the "Company")'s interim management statement for the period from 1 July 2015 to 12 November 2015.

Performance and dividends

The Company's unaudited net asset value (NAV), as at 30 September 2015 was £66.3 million or 78.36 pence per share (excluding treasury shares), a decrease of 0.83 pence per share or 1.0 per cent. since 30 June 2015.

After accounting for the third dividend of 1.25 pence per share which was paid on 30 October 2015 to shareholders on the register as at 2 October 2015, the NAV is 77.11 pence per share. The decline was mainly due to Lowcosttravelgroup Limited, where trading was slower than anticipated.

The Manager is continuing the task of rebalancing the portfolio with a view to reducing the proportion of investments made prior to 2009 and reinvesting in growth sectors and companies with capital efficient business models.

Share issues

During the period from 1 July 2015 to 30 September 2015, the Company issued the following new Ordinary shares under the Albion VCTs Prospectus Top Up Offers 2014/2015:

 

DateNumber of shares issuedIssue price per share (including costs of issue)Net proceeds £'000
30 September 2015 887,374 81.70 pence 703

               

The Albion VCT Prospectus Top Up Offers 2014/2015 was fully subscribed for the Company and closed on 30 September 2015 having raised net proceeds of £5.83 million in total for the Company.

Further Top Up Offers are planned for later this year and details are expected to be sent to shareholders in November 2015.

The proceeds of the Offer are being used to provide further resources to the Company at a time when a number of attractive new investment opportunities are being seen.

In addition, the following shares were issued under the dividend reinvestment scheme:

 

DateNumber of shares issuedIssue price per share Net proceeds £'000
30 October 2015 180,600 77.94 pence 139

Share buy-backs

During the period from 1 July 2015 to 12November 2015, the Company purchased 1,046,000 shares for £785,000 at an average price of 75.08 pence per share. All of the shares are to be held in treasury.

It remains the Board's policy to buy back shares in the market, subject to the overall constraint that such purchases are in the Company's interest, including the maintenance of sufficient resources for investment in existing and new portfolio companies and the continued payment of dividends to shareholders. It is the Board's intention for such buy-backs to be at around a 5 per cent. discount to the most recently announced net asset value, so far as market conditions and liquidity permit.

Portfolio

The following investments have been made during the period from 1 July 2015 to 12 November 2015:

 

Further investments£000'sActivity
Radnor House School (Holdings) Limited 995 Independent schools for children aged 7-18
Relayware Limited 256 Business collaboration and communication solutions
Bravo Inns Limited 248 Owner and operator of freehold pubs
Process Systems Enterprise Limited 141 Process modelling software and services
The Weybridge Club Limited 41 Owner and operator of a health and fitness club in Weybridge, Surrey
MyMeds&Me Limited 35 Software for managing pharmaceutical adverse events
The Charnwood Pub Company Limited 23 Owner and operator of freehold pubs
Sandcroft Avenue Limied (PayAsUGym.com) 15 Online gym directory and seller of gym passes
Total further investments1,754

  

New investments£000'sActivity
Panaseer Limited 110 Provider of cyber security threat analysis
Dickson Financial Services Limited (t/a Innovation Broking) 60 Corporate insurance broking services
Total new investments170

 Disposals and loan stock repayments

The following disposals and loan stock repayments were made during the period from 1 July 2015 to 12 November 2015:

Portfolio company£000's 
Masters Pharmaceuticals Limited 414 Loan stock and capitalised interest repayment
The Charnwood Pub Company Limited 248 Loan stock repayment
Radnor House School (Holdings) Limited 138 Loan stock and capitalised interest repayment
Hilson Moran Holdings Limited 50 Loan stock and redemption premium repayment
Total proceeds850  

Rostima (Holdings) Limited was sold to ComOps Limited, a competitor listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (COM:ASX), via a pre-packaged administration on 26 August 2015.

Top ten holdings as at 30 September 2015:

InvestmentCarrying value

£000's
% of net asset valueActivity
Radnor House School (Holdings) Limited 8,321 12.6% Independent schools for children aged 7-18
Kensington Health Clubs Limited 6,546 9.9% Owner and operator of a health and fitness club in West London
Blackbay Limited 4,303 6.5% Provider of mobile data solutions
Process Systems Enterprise Limited 3,375 5.1% Process modelling software and services
Bravo Inns II Limited 2,656 4.0% Owner and operator of freehold pubs
Chonais River Hydro Limited 2,507 3.8% Hydropower plant in Scotland
The Weybridge Club Limited 2,489 3.8% Owner and operator of a health and fitness club in Weybridge, Surrey
Mi-Pay Group plc 2,422 3.7% Payment processing services for pre-paid mobile networks and other customers
Lowcosttravelgroup Limited 2,310 3.5% Online travel business
AMS Sciences Limited 2,059 3.1% Provider of metabolism data in clinical and pre-clinical development

 A full breakdown of the Company's portfolio can be found on the Fund's webpage on the Manager's website under current portfolio at www.albion-ventures.co.uk/ourfunds/AATG.htm, by following the 'Portfolio of Investments' link under the 'Investor Centre' section.

 Material events and transactions

There have been no further significant events or transactions that the Board is aware of which would have a material impact on the financial position of the Company between 1 July 2015 to 12 November 2015.

 Further information

The Company continues to offer a Dividend Reinvestment Scheme to existing shareholders.  Details of this Scheme can be found at www.albion-ventures.co.uk/ourfunds/AATG.htm.

 Further information regarding historic and current financial performance and other useful shareholder information can be found on the Fund's webpage on the Manager's website under www.albion-ventures.co.uk/ourfunds/AATG.htm.

Dr. Neil Cross, Chairman

12 November 2015

For further information please contact:

Patrick Reeve, Albion Ventures LLP - tel: 020 7601 1850 




This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Albion Technology & General VCT PLC - Ordinary Shares via Globenewswire

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