Interim Management Statement - 1st Quarter

RNS Number : 9045X

Mobeus Income & Growth VCT PLC

07 May 2021

 

Mobeus Income & Growth VCT plc

("the Company")

LEI:  213800HKOSEVWS7YPH79

INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT

For the quarter ended 31 March 2021

Mobeus Income & Growth VCT plc presents an Interim Management Statement for the quarter ended 31 March 2021. The statement also includes relevant financial information between the end of the period and the date of this statement.

NET ASSET VALUE AND TOTAL RETURN PER SHARE

	At 31 March 2021 (unaudited)	At 31 December 2020 (audited)
Net assets attributable to shareholders	£101.40 million	£84.69 million
Shares in issue	126,336,620	126,336,620
Net asset value (NAV) per share	80.26 pence	67.03 pence
Cumulative dividends paid	139.80 pence	139.80 pence
Cumulative Total return (net asset value basis) per share since inception	220.06 pence	206.83 pence

The NAV per share has increased by 13.23 pence in the quarter (an increase of 19.7% upon the opening NAV per share). This strong performance is principally due to a further rise in unrealised portfolio valuations as well as gains on realisations. The admission to AIM of two portfolio companies (further details below) made a significant contribution.

Since 31 March 2020, the first quarter to reflect the initial outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic, NAV return per share has increased by 55.3%, a [very pleasing] performance, reflecting a series of profitable realisations and strong, resilient performance by the majority of portfolio companies in response to the pandemic, particularly by those with direct-to-consumer models.

INVESTMENT ACTIVITY DURING THE PERIOD

Virgin Wines admission to AIM

On 2 March 2021, Virgin Wines UK plc ("Virgin Wines"), an existing portfolio company, was admitted to trading on the Alternative Investment Market ("AIM") of the London Stock Exchange, alongside a placing of new and existing shares, at a Placing Price of £1.97 per share.

As part of this transaction, the Company received repayment of its remaining loan stock, generating net proceeds of £2.31 million (net of IPO transaction costs of £0.07 million).

At the date of the unaudited NAV per share above, being 31 March 2021, and based upon a bid price of £2.23 per share, the value of the Company's equity investment in Virgin Wines was valued at £13.04 million, an increase in value of this equity investment over the quarter of £7.45 million.

Parsley Box admission to AIM

On 31 March 2021, Parsley Box Group plc ("Parsley Box"), an existing portfolio company, was admitted to trading on the Alternative Investment Market ("AIM") of the London Stock Exchange, alongside a placing of new and existing shares. The Placing Price of these shares was £2.00 per share, valuing Parsley Box at a market capitalisation of £83.8 million. 

Following a further investment into Parsley Box on 7 January 2021 of £0.33 million (as noted below), the Company now holds 1,667,896 shares in Parsley Box after also acquiring 7,120 new ordinary shares at the Placing Price of £2.00 and a top-slicing sale of 830,388 shares to new investors. The sale realised net proceeds of £1.59 million for the Company (net of transaction costs), and generated a 4.0x return on the shares sold, as well as securing an overall return of 1.3x on the Company's entire investment to date.

At the date of the unaudited NAV per share above, being 31 March 2021, and based upon a closing bid price of £1.80 per share, the value of the Company's investment in Parsley Box was valued at £3.00 million. With the net sale proceeds of £1.59 million above, this represents a total uplift of £1.77 million over the valuation at 31 December 2020 of this investment.

Partial realisation during the period

On 31 March 2021, the Company partially realised its investment in MPB Group Limited as part of a £49.8 million primary and secondary funding round.  The Company received net proceeds of £1.62 million from the partial sale (c. 25%) of its equity investment and generated a 7.8x return on the cost of the shares sold. The value of the remaining investment in MPB at 31 March 2021 was £6.50 million.

New investments during the period

On 18 February 2021, a new investment of £1.16 million was made into Vivacity Labs Limited, a producer of artificial intelligence & urban traffic control systems.

On 25 March 2021, a new investment of £0.18 million was made into Caledonian Leisure Limited, a company specialising in providing UK based leisure and experience breaks.

Follow-on investments during the period

On 7 January 2021, a follow-on investment of £0.33 million was made into Parsley Box Limited, a supplier of home delivered ambient ready meals targeting the over 60s.

On 5 February 2021, a follow-on investment of £0.14 million was made into Bleach London Holdings Limited, a leading hair colourants brand.

On 12 February 2021, a follow-on investment of £0.62 million was made into Arkk Consulting Limited, a regulatory and reporting requirement software service provider.

On 12 March 2021, the Company made a £0.14 million follow-on investment into Spanish Restaurant Group Limited (trading as Tapas Revolution), a leading Spanish restaurant chain.

Other proceeds during the period

On 27 January 2021, further proceeds of £0.23 million were received by the Company in respect of the sale of Blaze Signs Holdings Limited, an investment realised in 2020.

 INVESTMENT ACTIVITY AFTER THE PERIOD END

Follow-on investments after the period end

On 16 April 2021, a second tranche investment of £0.14 million was made into Caledonian Leisure Limited, a company specialising in providing UK based leisure and experience breaks.

Other proceeds after the period end

On 1 April 2021, a loan repayment of £0.31 million (including premium) was received from Vian Marketing (trading as Red Paddle).

On 12 April 2021, the Company received further proceeds of £0.10 million from the realisation of Vectair Holdings Limited, an investment realised in 2020. These amounts were recognised as receivable at the date of the unaudited NAV per share above.

Please note that all of the above information is unaudited.

Other than as described above, there were no material events during the period and to the date of this announcement.

For further information, please contact:

Mobeus Equity Partners LLP, Company Secretary: 020 7024 7600

 

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