Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 9027G

Mobeus Income & Growth VCT PLC

25 November 2015

 

Mobeus Income & Growth VCT plc

("the Company")

INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT

For the quarter ended 30 September 2015

Mobeus Income & Growth VCT plc presents an Interim Management Statement for the quarter ended 30 September 2015.  The Statement also includes relevant financial information between the end of the period and the date of this Statement.

NET ASSET VALUE (NAV) AND TOTAL RETURN PER SHARE

At 30 September 2015		At 30 June 2015
Net assets attributable to shareholders	£71,340,8866	£72,185,067
Shares in issue	75,972,951	75,972,951
Net asset value (NAV) per share	93.90 p	95.01 p
Cumulative dividends paid	74.30 p	71.30 p
Cumulative total return per share (NAV basis) since inception	168.20 p	166.31 p
% return on initial NAV per share of  94.5 pence at inception	78.0 %	76.0 %

The NAV per share fell by 1.11 pence over the quarter, principally due to the payment of a dividend of 3.00 pence per share in the quarter, referred to below.

CUMULATIVE DIVIDENDS

The Company paid an interim dividend of 3.00 pence per share (comprising 2.00 pence from capital and 1.00 penny from income) on 17 September 2015, bringing cumulative dividends paid per share to date to 74.30 pence.

NEW INVESTMENT

There was one new investment of £1.19 million in the period. £1.51 million held in Vian Marketing Limited ("Vian"), a company preparing to trade, was used to invest in Tushingham Sails Limited, a leading supplier of stand-up paddleboards. This resulted in a net repayment from Vian to the Company of £0.32 million.

After the period-end, in October 2015, amounts held in Tovey Management Limited (£1.51 million) and Knighton Management Limited (£1.46 million), both of which were companies preparing to trade, along with a further £0.28 million from the Company, were used to invest in Access IS Limited, a leading provider of data capture and scanning hardware.

DIVESTMENTS

There were no realisations in the period.   However, during the period, £0.25 million was received from Newquay Helicopters as an interim distribution resulting from the members voluntary liquidation of the company. Further consideration of £0.02 million was received from Machineworks, an investment realised in an earlier period.

LOAN STOCK REPAYMENTS

A total of £0.81 million was received in loan stock repayments and premiums during the quarter to 30 September 2015, from Jablite, Leap NewCo (trading as Ward Thomas, Bishopsgate and Aussie Man & Van), Fullfield (Motorclean), and Tessella.

After the period-end, further loan repayments totalling £0.21 million (including premium) were received from Fullfield (Motorclean) and Jablite.

REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS

The UK Finance Act 2015 became law on 18 November 2015. This has introduced rules designed to ensure VCTs comply with new European Union ("EU") State Aid rules, while remaining able to provide finance to small and growing businesses.

The UK's VCT scheme must comply with the EU State Aid rules, as the tax relief given to investors is deemed to be State Aid to the companies in which the VCTs invest. These new rules have introduced new criteria regarding:

·      the maximum age of companies that are eligible for investments (generally 7 years under the UK Finance Act);

·      a lifetime cap on the total amount of state aided risk finance investment a company can receive (generally £12 million under the UK Finance Act); and

·      a requirement that VCT investment is to be used for growth and development purposes only.

The practical consequences of the application of these EU State Aid rules by the UK Finance Act 2015 are that the range and size of potential investments open to generalist VCTs such as Mobeus Income & Growth VCT plc will reduce. This is because VCTs are now required to focus more sharply upon the provision of growth capital to younger companies.  In particular, the Government has decided that VCT investments made to finance the purchase of existing business owners' shareholdings and the acquisition of businesses will no longer be permitted. This will restrict significantly all VCTs' future participation in management buyout ("MBO") transactions.

Mobeus has a long record of making and exiting successful VCT investments, focusing in recent years on MBO transactions. The investments in MBOs that have already been made are not affected by these new rules.  However, the UK Finance Act requires Mobeus to change its focus for new investments for each of its four advised VCTs, including your Company, and this is likely to alter the balance of the portfolio of the Company over a period of years. The UK government has announced an intention to permit VCTs to provide some replacement capital finance within investments, subject to agreement with the EU State Aid authorities. If this comes to pass, it would widen the pool of possible investment opportunities for VCTs compared to the more restricted regime that now applies following Royal Assent of the Finance Bill.

Your directors are working closely with Mobeus and our other professional advisers to understand the full implications of the new rules for our future investment strategy. We will present a recommendation  to shareholders in due course. In the meantime, your Board will consider investments in development capital opportunities that comply with the new rules.

SHARE BUY-BACKS

The Company did not buy back any of its own shares for cancellation during the quarter ended 30 September 2015 or following the period-end.

For further information, please contact:

Sarah Penfold, for Mobeus Equity Partners LLP, Company Secretary: 020 7024 7600.

 

END

 

 

IMSFEMSAIFISELF