Half Yearly Report

RNS Number : 1886C

Intl. Biotechnology Trust PLC

12 April 2013

 



INTERNATIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY TRUST PLC (the "Company")

Half Yearly Report for the six months ended 28 February 2013

This announcement contains regulated information.

Chairman's Statement

Summary

I am pleased to report a positive return for Shareholders over the half year to 28 February 2013. A 13.4% increase in Net asset value ("NAV") per share to 263.6p was offset by a widening of the discount from 12.0% to 17.9%, to generate a 5.9% increase in the Company's share price to 216.5p per share, the highest level since July 2001. Both the quoted and unquoted portfolios fared well over the half year period both returning 13.3%.

The quoted portfolio return was slightly behind the Sterling-adjusted performance of the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index ("NBI"). Disappointing news for several portfolio investments - mostly notably Pharmaxis' failure to gain FDA approval for their cystic fibrosis treatment - was almost entirely offset by significant gains made elsewhere. The Investment Manager's confidence in the prospects for the large caps Celgene and Gilead, as well as the small caps Celldex Therapeutics, YM Biosciences and Aegerion, was justified and well rewarded.

The unquoted portfolio, representing 17.4% of NAV at the end of the period, benefited from valuation changes to four investments already exited for which the Company retains rights to receive future contingent performance-based payments. These changes, as well as uplifts to the carrying values of Ophthotech and Celerion on positive developments, outweighed the negative impact of the write-off of Lux Biosciences after disappointing clinical newsflow.

As mentioned in the Investment Manager's Review, the potential value of future receipts associated with certain Company unquoted investments already exited has previously been reported in the Company's accounts. The re-evaluation of the current fair carrying value of these contingent receipts has been undertaken in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") and the International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation Guidelines ("IPEV") - December 2012 edition - which we believe give a better estimate of the fair value than our previous method which was to value them at close to zero.

The Company's exposure to the Dollar was of benefit during the period as currency movements - including the Dollar strengthening against Sterling - had a positive impact of £6.5m or 11.7p per share. The Board regularly reviews the position but the present policy is not to hedge the Company's currency exposure.

At 28 February 2013, £1.0m of the Company's £15.0m overdraft facility was drawn down. This facility provides the Investment Manager with funds to take advantage of investment opportunities that occur from time to time - whether quoted or unquoted - on occasions when the portfolio is otherwise fully invested. It continues to be the policy of the Board that borrowings are made on a relatively short-term basis to exploit specific investment opportunities, rather than to apply long-term structural gearing to the Company's portfolio of investments.

Over the six month period, there were no share repurchases by the Company. At 28 February 2013, the Company held 300,000 Ordinary shares in Treasury. It is the intention of the Board to continue its policy of buying back shares whether for cancellation or into Treasury, to assist in reducing the volatility of the discount and to enhance the NAV for the Company's Shareholders.

Board

I would like to welcome Mr Jim Horsburgh to the Board of the Company, who recently joined as a non-executive Director with effect from 1 February 2013. With a career in investment management that started in 1977, and more recently included the position of chief executive of Witan Investment Trust plc from February 2004 to October 2008, Jim brings a wealth of investment experience and an excellent track record, making him an important appointment. We look forward to working with him and believe the Company will benefit from his thoughtful advice and valuable insights.

AIFMD

The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive ("AIFMD"), which will become UK Law from July 2013, is actively being considered by the Board.  Transitional provisions mean that there is a twelve month period from July 2013 in which to act upon the provisions of this new European directive and the Board anticipates being able to provide an assessment of its impact on the Company in the year end accounts to 31 August 2013.

Prospects

Your Board continues to remain very positive about the future investment outlook for the Company. With growing and ageing populations in both developed and emerging economies, the demand for innovative new drugs, diagnostics and medical devices to prevent and treat modern complex diseases will continue to grow. An industry coming of age as the recent proliferation of drug discovery and development technologies begins to deliver a new product cycle suggests that companies in the biotechnology industry have never been better positioned to meet this demand.

The performance of the Company's NAV over the past few years has been particularly strong, with both the NAV and share price reaching levels not seen for over a decade. This strength reflects both substantial gains for the quoted biotechnology sector, as well as good asset allocation and stock selection on the part of the Investment Manager, ensuring that the Company has been positioned to participate in that success, while the portfolio of early-stage venture capital investments matures.

Our Investment Manager remains confident on the outlook for the quoted portfolio. The unquoted portfolio, meanwhile, provides Shareholders with an opportunity to generate absolute returns, whatever the direction of stock markets. In recent years the unquoted portfolio has marked time, and thus acted as a drag on NAV performance as stock markets have staged a dramatic recovery from the global financial crisis. In future years its influence on the Company's performance, however, is expected to be quite different and significantly NAV enhancing.

The Board believes there is a number of exciting investments in the unquoted portfolio maturing over the next few years that could have a meaningful impact on the NAV. With the Company's share price trading at a 17.1% discount to NAV at time of writing, and the unquoted portfolio comprising 17.4% of overall NAV, the market is assigning little value to the unquoted portfolio. The Board believes this offers investors an excellent opportunity.

Alan Clifton

Chairman

12 April 2013

Investment Manager's Review

Summary

The six months ended 28 February 2013 saw the Company's NAV per share increase by 13.4%.  Broader equity markets performed strongly during the period under review and the biotechnology sector continued to do well against this backdrop. The sector's strong fundamentals continue to generate investor demand as the leading companies are delivering robust, predictable earnings growth driven by a strong new product and technology cycle.

Quoted Portfolio

The return for the quoted portfolio over the half year period was 13.3%, versus the Sterling-adjusted NBI of 13.8%. The combined effect of gains and losses on quoted investments, including currency movements, was to increase the NAV by £15.3m or 27.6p per share. At 28 February 2013, the Company held investments in 41 quoted companies, representing 83.4% of NAV at £121.9m.

While the quoted portfolio experienced setbacks for several investments during the period, these were offset by some strong contributors elsewhere. Key detractors of quoted performance were investments in Pharmaxis, Oncothyreon, and Affymax, while key contributors to performance during the period were investments in Celgene, Gilead, Celldex Therapeutics, Biomarin, YM Biosciences and Aegerion.

Pharmaxis received a negative FDA panel approval recommendation for its cystic fibrosis drug Bronchitol which is already approved for use in Europe; Oncothyreon's Stimuvax failed to show any benefit in the treatment of lung cancer; and Affymax withdrew from commercial sale its drug Omontys to treat anaemia after signals of rare but very serious adverse reactions among patients taking the drug for the first time.

Meanwhile, Celgene management's upbeat articulation of its long-term growth aspirations combined with a series of positive clinical updates on several pipeline assets in the fields of cancer and inflammatory disease proved transformational for that company's share price during the period. Already IBT's largest investment, the positive impact on the Company's NAV was significant.

Gilead continued to announce positive clinical data for its exciting new treatment for HCV infection, underpinning a strong earnings growth outlook over the coming years.  Celldex Therapeutics announced exciting data on its new drug candidate for the treatment of breast cancer; Biomarin - one of the world's leading companies in the field of rare genetic diseases - announced positive clinical data for a key new drug for the treatment of Morquio A syndrome - a rare genetic disorder of growth and development; YM Biosciences - a company developing a drug to treat myelofibrosis - was acquired by Gilead for $510m; and Aegerion received FDA approval for its drug Juxtapid for the treatment of a serious genetic disease that causes extremely high cholesterol levels.

Unquoted Portfolio

The return for the unquoted portfolio over the half year period was 13.3%. The combined effect of gains and losses on unquoted investments, including currency movements, was to increase the NAV by £3.0m or 5.5p per share. At 28 February 2013, the Company held investments in 26 unquoted companies, representing 17.4% of NAV at £25.4m.

The main contributor to performance came from the upwards revaluation of four investments (ESBATech, EUSA Pharma, Ikano Therapeutics and Itero Holdings) which increased the NAV by £3.6m or 6.5p per share.  These companies have already been exited but IBT retains rights to receive future contingent performance based payments. After these changes, the Company currently recognises £4.0m of fair value for future milestone payments already exited.  The receipt of these payments is contingent on pre-agreed, and legally binding, operational or clinical development milestones being achieved.  If paid in full, these milestone payments are estimated to amount to £17.0m on current exchange rates, representing £13.0m of additional unrecognised value beyond that currently incorporated in the NAV.

The Company has decided that it is appropriate to place fair value estimates on these contingent future returns.  This valuation has now been based on a conservative assessment of likely returns within the context of regular reporting upon the programmes that continue within these acquired companies.  These have been combined with biotechnology industry development success statistics which allow external validation of assumptions.    The Investment Manager receives regular updates on the progress of each of the programmes being developed within the agreements governing these contingent performance based payment situations and makes recommendations to the Board as to the most appropriate net present value of these payments. These valuations are regularly reviewed by the Investment Manager and adjusted for any material change in the circumstances of the programmes.

The key detractor to unquoted performance came from the Company's investment in Lux Biosciences which announced that a pivotal late-stage clinical study for its key drug candidate for the treatment of uveitis (eye inflammation) failed to show any treatment benefit. With no clear way forward for the asset or the company, the value of this investment was written down from £1.3m to zero during the period.

More positively, portfolio company Ophthotech announced strong mid-stage clinical data on its experimental drug to treat age-related progressive vision loss. The compelling efficacy data was received warmly by the ophthalmic expert physician community and potential corporate partners. Based on expressions of corporate interest, the value of the Company's investment was written up during the period. Celerion - a clinical research organisation - continues to perform operationally far in excess of expectations, and the value of the Company's investment has been written up in-line with public market comparable company valuations.

Two new unquoted investments were made during the six months under review into NCP Holdings, operating as Nordic Consulting Partners, a healthcare IT consulting   business,   and   Autifony,   a   spin-out from GlaxoSmithKline focused on developing drugs to treat hearing loss. Follow-on investments were also made into nine existing holdings. Investments into all unquoted holdings totalled £2.2m during the period.  At  the  half  year, there  were  formal commitments to further invest in unquoted companies (based on certain operational  or clinical milestone  achievements) totalling  £1.6m; we also  have estimated reserves of an additional £6.0m for existing unquoted portfolio companies.

Outlook

We believe the recent strong performance of the global biotechnology sector is set to continue. Not only are the fundamentals of the industry continuing to strengthen with every clinical trial success, FDA approval and commercial launch - each serving to ratchet up the value of the sector - but, importantly, the market environment for the allocation of capital towards the industry for the time being remains favourable.

At the highest level, healthcare is an industry set to experience sustained long-term growth - austerity and slow economic growth cannot halt the demographic trend of ageing and sickening populations. While the escalating costs of healthcare provision in the current economic environment is probably unsustainable, this is placing increasing pressure on healthcare payors and providers to innovate - to achieve more with less, and this will force the adoption of new, more effective, medical technologies and products.

With the pace of medical innovation accelerating as advances in medical understanding meet rapid progress in the fields of engineering and information technology, small entrepreneurial R&D-intensive companies are well positioned to deliver the required innovation. A full late-stage biotechnology-based drug pipeline and a number of exciting medical technologies approaching widespread commercial adoption provide for plenty of high profile newsflow over the coming few years to sustain investor interest.

More broadly, the current environment characterised by low interest rates and low economic growth rates is conducive for investment capital to be put to work in the high-risk high reward biotechnology sector. With substantial follow-on financings now commonplace, and an increasing number of biotechnology companies able to execute an IPO (albeit at low valuations and with considerable insider support), risk-tolerant capital is clearly available for the highest quality assets.

While investment in very early-stage biotechnology companies remains the preserve of specialist investors, the increasing number of companies becoming "de-risked" through clinical and or regulatory success is attracting less specialist investment capital, of which there is a substantially larger quantity. Furthermore, the larger established biotech companies offer strong predictable and stable earnings growth - a rarity in the current economic environment.

The Company's quoted portfolio retains a weighting to the larger profitable biotech companies as they currently offer attractive earnings growth at low valuations by comparison to both absolute historical and relative current standards. However, the focus for new investment remains on companies making the transition to sustainable growth and profitability through the launch of paradigm-changing new drug or device products, as well as on smaller development-stage companies with under-appreciated assets.

While the Company's quoted portfolio gives Shareholders exposure to an industry sector that has outperformed the broader equity market over the long-term, the unquoted venture portfolio continues to mature. The Company's venture portfolio has been built up since the C Share issue in February 2007. The Investment Manager expects exits from the unquoted portfolio to drive NAV returns and Shareholder value in the near and medium-term.

SV Life Sciences Managers LLP

Investment Manager

12 April 2013

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

The Company's principal risks and uncertainties are detailed in the Annual Report for the year ended 31 August 2012.  A detailed explanation can be found on pages 19 to 20 of the Annual Report which is available on the Company's website at www.ibtplc.com.

In the view of the Board, there have not been any changes to the fundamental nature of these risks since the previous report and these principal risks and uncertainties are equally applicable to the remaining six months of the financial year as they were to the six months under review.

Directors' Responsibility Statement

In respect of the Half Yearly Report for the six months ended 28 February 2013, we confirm that, to the best of our knowledge:

- the condensed set of Financial Statements contained within have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 "Interim Financial Reporting"; and

- the Chairman's Statement and Investment Manager's Review include a fair review of the information required by 4.2.7R and 4.2.8R of the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

The Half Yearly Report for the six months ended 28 February 2013 was approved by the Board and the above Responsibility Statement has been signed on its behalf by:

Alan Clifton

Chairman

12 April 2013

Group Statement of Comprehensive Income

for the six months ended 28 February 2013

		(Unaudited)			(Unaudited)			(Audited)
		For the six months ended			For the six months ended			For the year ended
		28 February 2013			29 February 2012			31 August 2012
		Group	Group	Group	Group	Group	Group	Group	Group	Group
		Revenue	Capital	Total	Revenue	Capital	Total	Revenue	Capital	Total
	Notes	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Gains on investments held at fair value		-	18,322	18,322	-	25,021	25,021	-	39,683	39,683
Exchange losses on currency balances		-	(25)	(25)	-	(225)	(225)	-	(179)	(179)
Income	2	140	-	140	67	-	67	380	260	640
Expenses
Management fees		(742)	-	(742)	(567)	-	(567)	(1,269)	-	(1,269)
Performance fee		-	-	-	-	(767)	(767)	-	-	-
Administrative expenses		(425) -----------	- ----------	(425) ----------	(392) -----------	- ---------	(392) ----------	(802) -----------	- ---------	(802) ---------
(Loss)/profit before finance costs and tax		(1,027)	18,297	17,270	(892)	24,029	23,137	(1,691)	39,764	38,073
Finance costs
Interest payable		(11) -----------	- ----------	(11) ----------	(19) ------------	- ----------	(19) ----------	(20) -----------	- ----------	(20) ---------
(Loss)/profit on ordinary activities before tax		(1,038)	18,297	17,259	(911)	24,029	23,118	(1,711)	39,764	38,053
Taxation		(16) -----------	- ----------	(16) ---------	(18) ------------	- ----------	(18) ----------	(42) -----------	- ----------	(42) ---------
(Loss)/profit for the period attributable to owners of the parent		(1,054) -----------	18,297 ----------	17,243 ----------	(929) -----------	24,029 ----------	23,100 ----------	(1,753) -----------	39,764 ----------	38,011 --------
(Loss)/earnings per Ordinary share	3	(1.90)p ======	32.99p ======	31.09p ======	(1.67)p ======	43.18p ======	41.51p ======	(3.16)p ======	71.58p ======	68.42p =====

The Group Total column of this statement represents the Group's Statement of Comprehensive Income prepared in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the European Union.

The Group does not have any other comprehensive income and hence the (loss)/profit for the year, as disclosed above, is the same as the Group's total comprehensive income.

The revenue and capital columns are supplementary and are prepared under guidance published by the Association of Investment Companies ("AIC").

All items in the above statement derive from continuing operations.

The accompanying notes form part of these Financial Statements.

Group Balance Sheet

as at 28 February 2013

		(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
		At 28 February	At 29 February	At 31 August
		2013	2012	2012
		Group	Group	Group
	Notes	£'000	£'000	£'000
Non-current assets
Investments held at fair value through profit or loss		147,264 ------------	105,547 ------------	120,389 ------------
		147,264	105,547	120,389
Current assets
Current asset investments		2	6,508	6,043
Receivables		104	1,158	355
Cash and cash equivalents		86 ------------	1,770 -----------	2,334 ------------
		192 ------------	9,436 -----------	8,732 ------------
Total assets		147,456	114,983	129,121
Current liabilities
Borrowings		(1,012)	-	-
Payables		(279) ------------	(972) -----------	(199) ------------
		(1,291) ------------	(972) -----------	(199) ------------
Net assets		146,165 ------------	114,011 -----------	128,922 ------------
Equity attributable to equity holders
Called up share capital	4	13,939	14,827	14,002
Share premium account		18,805	18,805	18,805
Capital redemption reserve		27,878	26,990	27,815
Share purchase reserve		45,596	45,596	45,596
Capital reserves	5	62,562	28,530	44,265
Revenue reserve		(22,615) ------------	(20,737) ------------	(21,561) ------------
Total equity		146,165 ------------	114,011 ------------	128,922 ------------
Net asset value per Ordinary share	6	263.56p =======	205.58p =======	232.47p =======

The accompanying notes form part of these Financial Statements.

Group Statement of Changes in Equity

	Group
	For the six months ended 28 February 2013 (Unaudited)
	Called up	Share	Capital	Share
	share	premium	redemption	purchase	Capital	Revenue
	capital	account	reserve	reserve	reserves	reserve	Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Balance at 31 August 2012	14,002	18,805	27,815	45,596	44,265	(21,561)	128,922
Total Comprehensive Income:
Profit/(loss) for the period	-	-	-	-	18,297	(1,054)	17,243
Transactions with owners, recorded directly to equity:
Shares cancelled from Treasury	(63) ----------	- ----------	63 ----------	- ----------	- ----------	- ------------	- -----------
Balance at 28 February 2013	13,939 ======	18,805 ======	27,878 ======	45,596 ======	62,562 ======	(22,615) =======	146,165 ======
	Group
	For the six months ended 29 February 2012 (Unaudited)
	Called up	Share	Capital	Share
	share	premium	redemption	purchase	Capital	Revenue
	capital	account	reserve	reserve	reserves	reserve	Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Balance at 31 August 2011	15,089	18,805	26,728	46,449	4,501	(19,808)	91,764
Total Comprehensive Income:
Profit/(loss) for the period	-	-	-	-	24,029	(929)	23,100
Transactions with owners, recorded directly to equity:
Shares bought back and held in Treasury	-	-	-	(853)	-	-	(853)
Shares cancelled from Treasury	(262) -----------	- ----------	262 ----------	- ----------	- ----------	- -----------	- -----------
Balance at 29 February 2012	14,827 =======	18,805 ======	26,990 ======	45,596 ======	28,530 ======	(20,737) =======	114,011 =======
	Group
	For the year ended 31 August 2012 (Audited)
	Called up	Share	Capital	Share
	share	premium	redemption	purchase	Capital	Revenue
	capital	account	reserve	reserve	reserves	reserve	Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Balance at 31 August 2011	15,089	18,805	26,728	46,449	4,501	(19,808)	91,764
Total Comprehensive Income:
Profit/(loss) for the period	-	-	-	-	39,764	(1,753)	38,011
Transactions with owners, recorded directly to equity:
Shares bought back and held in Treasury	-	-	-	(853)	-	-	(853)
Shares cancelled from Treasury	(1,087) -----------	- -----------	1,087 -----------	- ----------	- ----------	- -----------	- -----------
Balance at 31 August 2012	14,002 =======	18,805 ======	27,815 =======	45,596 ======	44,265 ======	(21,561) =======	128,922 =======

The accompanying notes form part of these Financial Statements.

Group Cash Flow Statement

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	For the six months	For the six months	For the year
	ended 28 February	ended 29 February	ended 31 August
	2013	2012	2012
	Group	Group	Group
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Cash flows from operating activities
Profit before finance costs and tax	17,270	23,137	38,073
Exchange losses on currency balances	25	225	179
Adjustments for:
Increase in investments	(26,875)	(9,680)	(24,522)
Decrease/(increase) in current asset investments	6,041	(6,508)	(6,043)
Decrease in receivables	251	4,269	5,072
Increase/(decrease) in payables	76	(585)	(1,349)
Taxation	(16) -------------	(18) -------------	(42) ------------
Net cash flows (used in)/from operating activities	(3,228) -------------	10,840 -------------	11,368 ------------
Cash flows from financing activities
Share repurchase costs	-	(853)	(853)
Interest paid on bank overdrafts	(7) -------------	(19) -------------	(29) ------------
Net cash used in financing activities	(7) -------------	(872) -------------	(882) ------------
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents	(3,235)	9,968	10,486
Effect of foreign exchange losses	(25)	(225)	(179)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period	2,334 -------------	(7,973) -------------	(7,973) ------------
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period	(926) ========	1,770 ========	2,334 =======

The accompanying notes form part of these Financial Statements.

Notes to the Financial Statements

1. Accounting Policies

The consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34 "Interim Financial Reporting", as adopted by the European Union and are presented in Sterling, as this is the principal currency of the primary economic environment in which the Group operates.

The financial information for each of the six month periods ended 28 February 2013 and 29 February 2012 comprises non-statutory accounts within the meaning of Sections 434 - 436 of the Companies Act 2006 (the "Act"). The financial information for the year ended 31 August 2012 has been extracted from published accounts that have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and on which the report of the auditors was unqualified, did not draw attention to any matters by way of emphasis and did not contain a statement under Section 498(2) or (3) of the Act.

The Company's principal risks and uncertainties remained unchanged to those described in the Annual Report for the year ended 31 August 2012.

The Group's accounting policies have not varied from those described in the Annual Report for the year ended 31 August 2012.

2. Income

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	For the six months	For the six months	For the year
	ended 28 February	ended 29 February	ended 31 August
	2013	2012	2012
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Revenue:
Income from investments held at fair value through profit or loss:
Franked dividends	-	1	3
Unfranked dividends	143	111	276
Interest on debt securities	159 ------------	- -----------	108 -----------
	302	112	387
Other income:
Income from current asset investments	(162) -----------	(45) -----------	(7) -----------
	140 ======	67 ======	380 =======
Capital:
Special dividends allocated to capital	- ======	- ======	260 =======

3. Earnings per Ordinary Share

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	For the six months	For the six months	For the year
	ended 28 February	ended 29 February	ended 31 August
	2013	2012	2012
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Net revenue loss	(1,054)	(929)	(1,753)
Net capital profit	18,297 ------------	24,029 ------------	39,764 -------------
	17,243 =======	23,100 =======	38,011 =======
Weighted average number of Ordinary shares in issue	55,457,663	55,652,993	55,554,794
Revenue loss per Ordinary share	(1.90)p	(1.67)p	(3.16)p
Capital profit per Ordinary share	32.99p -----------	43.18p -----------	71.58p ----------
Total profit per Ordinary share	31.09p =======	41.51p =======	68.42p ======

4. Called Up Share Capital

During the six months ended 28 February 2013, 250,000 shares held in Treasury were cancelled, leaving 300,000 shares in Treasury. The Ordinary shares held in Treasury have no voting rights and are not entitled to dividends.

5. Capital Reserves

The capital reserve account comprises both realised gains on investments sold and unrealised gains and losses on investments held, which are analysed as follows:

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	At 28 February	At 29 February	At 31 August
	2013	2012	2012
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Capital reserve - on investments sold	36,426	24,357	34,617
Capital reserve - on investments held	26,136 -------------	4,173 --------------	9,648 -------------
	62,562 =======	28,530 ========	44,265 =======

6. Net Asset Value per Ordinary Share

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	At 28 February	At 29 February	At 31 August
	2013	2012	2012
Net assets attributable to Ordinary Shareholders (£'000)	146,165	114,011	128,922
Ordinary shares in issue at end of period	55,457,663	55,457,663	55,457,663
Net asset value per Ordinary share	263.56p	205.58p	232.47p

7. Related Party Transactions

There have been no related party transactions that have materially affected the financial position or the performance of the Group during the six month period to 28 February 2013.

8. Half Yearly Report

The Company's Half Yearly Report for the six months ended 28 February 2013 will be posted to Shareholders in April 2013. Copies of the Half Yearly Report will be available from the Registered Office of the Company at 55 Moorgate, London EC2R 6PA and on the website, www.ibtplc.com, which is a website maintained by the Company's Investment Manager, SV Life Sciences Managers LLP. A copy of the Half Yearly Report for the six months ended 28 February 2013 has been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism of the UK Listing Authority and will shortly be available for inspection at: www.Hemscott.com/nsm.do.

For further information, please contact:

Kate Bingham/David Pinniger

Investment Manager

SV Life Sciences Managers LLP

Telephone: [phone]

Rhona Gregg

Company Secretary

BNP Paribas Secretarial Services Limited

Telephone: [phone]                              

12 APRIL 2013

 

END

 

 

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