Half-year report and dividend declaration

26 October 20 21

Octopus AIM VCT plc (“Octopus AIM” or the “Company”)

Unaudited half-yearly report for the six months ended 31 August 2021

Octopus AIM VCT plc, managed by Octopus Investments Limited, today announces the half-yearly results for the six months ended 31 August 2021.

These results were approved by the Board of Directors on 25 October 2021.

You may shortly view the half-yearly report in full by visiting https://octopusinvestments.com/our-products/venture-capital-trusts/octopus-aim-vcts/. All other statutory information will also be found there.

Financial Summary

	Six months to 31 August 20 2 1	Six months to 31 August 20 20	Year to 29 February 202 1
Net assets (£’000)	190,132	135,002	182,156
Profit after tax (£’000)	18,928	15,088	50,850
Net asset value (‘NAV’) per share (p)	131.9	101.8	124.7
NAV total return (%)*	10.6	12.3	39.5
Dividends paid in the period (p)	6.0	3.0	5.5
Dividend declared (p)***	2.5	2.5	3.5
Special dividend declared (p)***	–	–	2.5

*Total Return is an alternative performance measure calculated as movement in NAV per share in the period plus dividends paid in the period, divided by the NAV per share at the beginning of the period.
**The interim dividend of 2.5p will be paid on 14 January 2022 to those shareholders on the register on 17 December 2021.

Chairman’s Statement

Having been appointed chairman at the Company’s Annual General Meeting in July, I am pleased to report the half-yearly results for Octopus AIM VCT plc. The six-month period to 31 August 2021 has been another one of positive returns as the UK emerged from its third lockdown as the vaccine programme gathered momentum. It was apparent that, although the pandemic has continued to affect lives and our healthcare system, the economic shock of the most recent lockdown was less severe than the lockdowns of 2020. As a result, share prices were well supported by upgrades to previously cautious forecasts despite some concerns about the possible effect of the Delta variant on the recovery should restrictions have to return. The Octopus AIM portfolio has continued to show resilience, still benefitting from its high exposure to the technology and healthcare sectors, and the NAV per share rose by 10.6% after adding back the dividends paid in July.

The Board has declared an interim dividend of 2.5p a share which will be paid on 14 January 2022 to those shareholders on the register on 17 December 2021.

The flow of potential VCT qualifying investments has continued and your Investment Manager has made thirteen qualifying investments in the period which are explained in more detail within the Interim Management Report. Reassuringly, AIM has fulfilled its function of raising capital for existing members throughout the pandemic, and as companies look beyond the crisis and plan their next phase of growth we have also seen the return of new issues.

The Board announced the launch of a new public offer of shares in August which has now closed having been fully subscribed very rapidly, raising £24 million gross for the fund. The strength of the UK’s post-pandemic economic recovery has slowed in recent weeks as a consequence of factors such as the impact of inflation, staff shortages, energy price rises and supply chain interruptions. These circumstances may well lead to further bouts of share price volatility. However, we are satisfied with the overall resilience of our existing portfolio, as demonstrated during the pandemic, and our Manager is confident that there will continue to be good investment opportunities for the new funds over the coming months.

Neal Ransome

Chairman

25 October 2021

Interim Management Report

Overview
The six months to 31 August 2021 saw economic growth gather pace as the country emerged from lockdown and the success of the vaccine rollout became apparent. Analysts’ forecasts, which had started the year with very low expectations were generally upgraded in the March reporting season with some companies enjoying further upgrades as the summer progressed. Against this background markets made good progress in the six months although there were some individual volatile months as worries about the effects of a rapid rise in demand on inflation and interest rates started to emerge.

The flow of capital raised by companies has built on the strength of 2020, supplemented by the return of new flotations. Stock market liquidity has been good and we have taken some profits from holdings that have performed particularly well. The Company has deployed existing cash through the period and launched a further fundraise of up to £24 million gross in August which closed fully subscribed in September.

Performance
Adding back the 6p of dividends paid in the period, the Net Asset Value increased by 10.6% in the six months to 31 August 2021. This compares with a 9.7% rise in the AIM Index, a 24.6% rise in the Smaller Companies Index (ex Investment Trusts) and a 13.3% rise in the FTSE All Share Index, all on a total return basis. Performance was, as ever, most influenced by stock specific news, but there were some months when the portfolio’s exposure to the more highly rated technology and healthcare sectors caused it to lag a wider stockmarket worried about the effects of inflation on valuations.

The strongest theme driving returns in the period was upgrades to forecasts that had generally started 2021 reflecting the pandemic caution of 2020 rather than anticipating any strong recovery in trading. This extended across different sectors and included a large proportion of portfolio companies. Those companies exceeding expectations included Ergomed, EKF Diagnostics, Maxcyte, Cambridge Cognition and Animalcare in the healthcare sector. Cell based medicine specialist Maxcyte completed an oversubscribed £40 million fundraise and dual listed on Nasdaq. Renalytix, which had already gone down this pathway, also performed well as shareholders focused on the potential for its KidneyIntelX test. We have taken some profits in Ergomed and Renalytix shares.

Elsewhere, Learning Technologies successfully raised £82 million to acquire GP Strategies. The deal is earnings enhancing, adds significant scale to the business and the shares performed very well in the period. Gear4music continued its recent upgrade cycle although forecasts for the rest of the year remain conservative reflecting caution about the rate of growth now that the high street is open. Sosandar, another on-line retailer, also delivered better than expected figures. It has announced tie-ups with M&S and Next and trading has continued to be strong.

Breedon, Vertu Motors and Brooks MacDonald are examples of companies in very different sectors that have bounced back from the negative effects of covid and their shares have performed very well as expectations have been raised. Next Fifteen and The Panoply (now called TPX Group) are both beneficiaries of companies and institutions embracing change and new ways of doing things in the light of covid challenges. They have both reported extremely strong growth as a result.

The largest detractors from performance in the period were Ilika, Trackwise, Spectral MD, Creo Medical, Ixico, Glantus and Diaceutics. Ilika had enjoyed a very large uplift in valuation in 2020 as investors focused on its solid state battery technology and its potential to supply electric vehicles in the future. The shares were vulnerable to profit taking but it has successfully raised further funds to aid its path to revenue generation. Trackwise, Creo Medical and Diaceutics all suffered from covid related delays to orders and consequent downgrades to forecasts. In our view they each have exciting growth prospects once they can establish their products in their respective market places. Ixico unfortunately lost a multi-million pound contract when a Phase 3 trial in Huntington’s disease was terminated early. The company has since announced several clinical trial wins and the shares are recovering slowly. Spectral MD and Glantus are both in line with expectations at the time of float but their shares have been languishing in the aftermarket.

Portfolio Activity
In the period under review, the Company made thirteen qualifying investments at a total cost of £12.6 million. This was more than twice the £5.8 million invested in the corresponding period last year, reflecting the part that AIM has played in providing finance to its constituents as well as to new entrants as we emerged from the Coronavirus pandemic. Three of these were follow-on investments into existing holdings in Cloudcall, VR Education and Ilika totalling £1.6 million. Cloudcall had suffered during the pandemic with its principal customer group being in the recruitment sector. The money raised will put them back on a growth track as the business recovers. VR Education has announced a number of new customers for its Engage platform as a result of an accelerated move towards the use of virtual reality for remote meetings and events, particularly for large companies concerned about effective internal communications in a world where people are expecting to travel less. The money raised will help to accelerate this journey. Ilika (where we had previously taken some profits at higher levels) raised money to build its own production facility for solid state batteries as it emerges from its current R&D phase.

In contrast to previous periods, six of these investments totalling £8.4 million were into companies coming to AIM as new issues. In the Style Group is a fast-growing on-line fashion retailer which uses social media ‘influencers’ to design and promote ranges of clothes. Parsley Box is an on-line retailer of ready meals particularly targeting older people. Glantus has developed a platform for automating the reconciliation of supplier invoices which is particularly aimed at large clients operating multiple complex computer systems which struggle to communicate with each other. It intends to grow organically and by acquisition. Spectral MD, Lunglife and GENinCode have all developed smart diagnostic tests aimed at quicker and more accurate diagnoses to enable earlier clinical intervention and save healthcare payers’ money in the longer term. In the case of Spectral MD their imaging machines are able to establish a clear picture of a wound and its healing potential thus predicting the best course of treatment at the outset. Lunglife is focused on the early detection and monitoring of lung cancer from a blood sample enhanced by artificial intelligence rather than relying on invasive and potentially dangerous biopsies. GENinCode combines genetic and clinical data to risk assess patients for the onset of cardiovascular disease.

We also made three new qualifying investments totalling £2.3 million into existing AIM companies where we had been watching their progress for some time. Evgen Pharma had a funded trial for ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) as well as compelling data for its sulphoraphane based compounds. Although the trial for Covid 19 treatment was not successful, the money raised was for its cancer studies which are still ongoing. Polarean is a specialist lung imaging company and Crimson Tide has software that audits health and safety measures such as facilities management for large organisations. In addition, we made a private company investment of £0.3 million into Eluceda, a company with detection technology used to protect brands from counterfeit.

We invested a further £1.65 million into the FP Octopus UK Multi-Cap Income Fund, with the objective of obtaining a better return on our cash awaiting investment in qualifying holdings.

A number of disposals in the period resulted in cash proceeds of £3 million and a net gain of £2 million since acquisition. These were a mixture of profits being taken on existing holdings such as Ergomed, Renalytix, GB Group, Gear 4 music, Trackwise, PCI Pal, Access Intelligence and Intelligent Ultrasound; a partial disposal of the holding in Maestrano and the disposal of the entire holding in Fusionex at a small profit.

Unquoted Investments
The Company is able to make investments in unquoted companies intending to float. On 31 August 2021 3.1% (28 February 2021: 2.7% and 31 August 2020: 2.5%) was invested in unquoted companies.

Transactions with Manager
Details of amounts paid to the Manager are disclosed in Note 8 to the Financial Statements.

Share Buybacks
In the six months to 31 August 2021, the Company bought back 3,257,679 Ordinary shares for total consideration of £4,039,000. The Company remains committed to maintaining a discount of approximately 4.5% to NAV (equating to a 5.0% discount to the selling shareholder after costs).

Share Issues and Fundraising
In this period 68,692 shares were issued in connection with the 2020/21 prospectus offer which closed fully subscribed in February 2021.

On 20 August 2021 the Company launched a new combined offer for subscription alongside Octopus AIM VCT 2 plc to raise up to £30 million with an over allotment of up to a further £10 million. It has already closed fully subscribed having raised £24 million gross for the Company and £16 million gross for Octopus AIM VCT 2 plc.

In addition, 1,222,892 new ordinary shares were issued in August 2021 to shareholders who participated in the dividend reinvestment scheme (DRIS), and 45,644 new ordinary shares were issued in July 2021 as a result of reduced adviser charges and reduced annual management fee for Octopus employees. Further details can be seen in Note 6 to the Financial Statements.

Dividend
On 13 August 2021, the Company paid a dividend of 6.0p per share, being the final dividend for the year ended 29 February 2021 of 2.5p and a special dividend of 3.5p.

For the period to 31 August 2021, the Board has declared an interim dividend of 2.5p. This will be paid on 14 January 2022 to shareholders on the register on 17 December 2021.
It is the Company’s objective to continue to pay a minimum of 2.5p each half year and to adjust the final dividend annually, based on the year-end share price, so that the shareholders receive either 5p per annum or a 5% yield based on share price, whichever is the greater at the time.

Risks and Uncertainties
The Company’s principal risks and uncertainties are set out in Note 7 to the unaudited financial statements.

Long-Term Responsible Investing
The investment team has always invested as long-term responsible shareholders and supported businesses in the process of improving the corporate governance structure. As part of the investment process, the team is incorporating a material risk review depending on the exposure of the underlying business where appropriate. These risks can span from environmental (emissions, energy management, waste, ecological impact), social (privacy, security, product quality, selling practices), human (labour, health and safety, diversity), business model (product design, supply chain, material sourcing) to leadership (ethics, competitive behaviour, regulatory, critical incidents, and risk management). The team assess the exposure and how well management is managing these material risks. The team believes that assessing these factors allows for informed investment analysis and it forms part of the investment strategy. The investment manager is taking its duty as a shareholder seriously and acting as a steward of capital. This includes regular engagement with the independent non- executive members of boards. The team’s stewardship and engagement policy can be found here (https://media.octopusinvestments.com/m/519bad6a06ce2d77/original/Octopus- Quoted-Smaller-Companies-Engagement-Policy.pdf).

Outlook
Economic consensus is still that a record contraction to the economy in 2020 will be matched by very strong growth in 2021 as a proportion of the corporate and household savings during the pandemic are spent. However, the strength of the recovery has brought its own pressures and the impact of inflation, staff shortages, supply chain interruptions, fiscal risks and the political risks in China are some of the challenges that have to be navigated by businesses as well as ongoing concerns about new covid variants. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that equity markets have started to experience higher levels of volatility since the end of the period as they start to embrace the possibility of interest rate rises and a slowing in the rate of upgrades to forecasts that investors have enjoyed in 2021. However, the tone of outlook statements has remained upbeat in the recent reporting period and a rise in takeover bids also supports higher valuations for equities.

The portfolio’s strength is that it is well diversified both in terms of sector exposure and of individual company concentration. It now contains 92 holdings across a range of sectors with the balance still weighted towards profitable companies that are pursuing growth strategies. There are a number of newer holdings that still need to demonstrate progress over the coming months in order to reach profitability. The newly raised funds available for investments should allow us to take advantage of any dip in valuations should sentiment weaken as well as supporting existing portfolio companies still on the journey to profitability where we can. As a result of an acceleration in the investment rate over the past six months the VCT is 95.0% invested in qualifying companies allowing us to be selective when viewing new investment opportunities.

The Octopus Quoted Smaller Companies Team

Octopus Investments

25 October 2021

Directors ’ Responsibilities Statement

We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:

• the half-yearly financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Financial Reporting Standard 104 “Interim Financial Reporting” issued by the Financial Reporting Council;

• the half-yearly financial statements give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position, and profit or loss of the Company;

• the half-yearly report includes a fair review of the information required by the Financial Conduct Authority’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules, being:

• an indication of the important events that have occurred during the first six months of the financial year and their impact on the condensed set of financial statements.
  
  

• a description of the principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the year; and

• a description of related party transactions that have taken place in the first six months of the current financial year, that may have materially affected the financial position or performance of the Company during that period and any changes in the related party transactions described in the last annual report that could do so.

• the half-yearly financial statements have not been audited or reviewed by the auditors.

On behalf of the Board

Neal Ransome

Chairman

25 October 2021

Income Statemen t

	Unaudited Six months to 31 August 20 2 1			Unaudited Six months to 31 August 2020			Audited Year to 28 February 2021
	Revenue £’000	Capital £’000	Total £’000	Revenue £’000	Capital £’000	Total £’000	Revenue £’000	Capital £’000	Total £’000
Gain on disposal of fixed asset investments	–	618	618	–	1,118	1,118	–	4,361	4,361
(Loss)/gain on disposal of current asset investments	–	(3)	(3)	–	(116)	(116)	–	58	58
Gain/(loss) on valuation of fixed asset investments	–	17,114	17,114	–	14,585	14,585	–	44,908	44,908
Gain on valuation of current asset investments	–	2,516	2,516	–	543	543	–	3,655	3,655
Investment income	380	136	516	123	–	123	472	51	523
Investment management fees	(363)	(1,088)	(1,451)	(224)	(672)	(896)	(487)	(1,461)	(1,948)
Other expenses	(382)	–	(382)	(269)	–	(269)	(707)	–	(707)
Profit before tax	(365)	19,293	18,928	(370)	15,458	15,088	(722)	51,572	50,850
Tax	_	_	_	–	–	–	_	_	_
Profit after tax	(365)	19,293	18,928	(370)	15,458	15,088	(722)	51,572	50,850
Earnings per share – basic and diluted	(0.3p)	13.3p	13.0p	(0.3p)	11.7p	11.4p	(0.5p)	37.9p	37.4p

• the ‘Total’ column of this statement represents the statutory Income Statement of the Company; the supplementary revenue return and capital return columns have been prepared in accordance with the AIC Statement of Recommended Practice.

• all revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing operations.

• the Company has no recognised gains or losses other than those disclosed in the income statement.

• the Company has only one class of business and derives its income from investments made in shares and securities and from bank and money market funds, as well as OEIC funds.

Balance Sheet

	Unaudited As at 31 August 20 2 1		Unaudited As at 31 August 2020		Audited As at 28 February 2021
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Fixed asset investments		157,318		98,498		129,915
Current assets:
Investments	18,772		12,327		16,212
Money market funds	1,326		1,326		1,326
Debtors	214		215		1,864
Cash at bank	13,955		23,241		33,724
Cash at bank	10,470		718		162
	44,737		37,827		53,288
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year	(11,923)		(1,323)		(1,047)
Net current assets		32,814		36,504		52,241
Total assets less current liabilities		190,132		135,002		182,156
Called up equity share capital		1,441		1,326		1,461
Share premium		59,673		75,666		57,966
Capital redemption reserve		205		147		173
Special distributable reserve		54,806		38,546		67,477
Capital reserve realised		(20,714)		(24,985)		(21,945)
Capital reserve unrealised		96,180		45,095		78,169
Revenue reserve		(1,459)		(793)		(1,145)
Total equity shareholders’ funds		190,132		135,002		182,156
NAV per share – basic and diluted		131.9p		101.8p		124.7p

The statements were approved by the Directors and authorised for issue on 25 October 2021 and are signed on their behalf by:

Neal Ransome
Chairman
Company No: 03477519

Statement of Changes in Equity

	Share Capital £’000	Share Premium £’000	Capital redemption reserve £’000	Special distributable reserves* £’000		Capital reserve realised* £’000		Capital reserve unrealised £’000	Revenue reserve* £’000	Total £’000
As at 1 March 2021	1,461	57,966	172	67,478	(21,996)		78,169		(1,094)	182,156
Total comprehensive income for the period	–	–	–	–	(337)		19,630		(365)	18,928
Contributions by and distributions to owners:
Repurchase and cancellation of own shares	(33)	–	33	(4,039)	–		–		–	(4,039)
Issue of shares	13	1,713	–	–	–		–		–	1,726
Share issue costs	–	(6)	–	–	–		–		–	(6)
Dividends paid	–	–	–	(8,633)			–		–	(8,633)
Total contributions by and distributions to owners	(20)	1,707	33	(12,672)	–		–		–	(10,952)
Other movements:
Prior years’ holding gains now realised	–	–	–	–	1,619		(1,619)		–	–
Total other movements	–	–	–	–	1,619		(1,619)		–	–
Balance as at 31 August 2021	1,441	59,673	205	54,806	(20,714)		96,180		(1,459)	190,132
* The sum of these reserves is an amount of £32,632,000 (31 August 2020: £12,769,000 and 28 February 2021: £44,387,000) which is considered distributable to shareholders. .
As at 1 March 2020	1,234	65,883	134	43,630	(26,719)		31,371		(423)	115,110
Total comprehensive income for the period	–	–	–	–	330		15,128		(370)	15,088
Contributions by and distributions owners:
Repurchase and cancellation of own shares	(13)	–	13	(1,117)	–		–		–	(1,117)
Issue of shares	105	10,438	–	–	–		–		–	10,543
Share issue costs	–	(655)	–	–	–		–		–	(655)
Dividends paid	–	–	–	(3,967)			–		–	(3,967)
Total contributions by and distributions to owners	92	9,783	13	(5,084)	–		–		–	4,804
Other movements:
Prior years’ holding gains now realised	–	–	–	–	1,404		(1,404)		–	–
Total other movements	–	–	–	–	1,404		(1,404)		–	–
Balance as at 31 August 2020	1,326	75,666	147	38,546	(24,985)		45,095		(793)	135,002
As at 1 March 2020	1,234	65,883	134	43,630	(26,719)		31,371		(423)	115,110
C omprehensive income for the year:
Management fee allocated as capital expenditure	–	–	–	–	(1,461)		–		–	(1,461)
Current year gains on disposal	–	–	–	–	4,419		–		–	4,419
Current period gains on fair value of investments	–	–	–	–	–		48,563		–	48,563
Capital investment income	–	–	–	–	51		–		–	51
Loss after tax	–	–	–	–	–		–		(722)	(722)
Total comprehensive income for the year	–	–	–	–	3,009		48,563		(722)	50,850
Contributions by and distributions to owners:
Repurchase and cancellation of own shares	(39)	–	39	(3,940)	–		–		–	(3,940)
Issue of shares	266	29,347	–	–	–		–		–	29,613
Share issue costs	–	(1,842)	–	–	–		–		–	(1,842)
Dividends paid	–	–	–	(7,635)	–		–		–	(7,635)
Total contributions by and distributions to owners	227	27,505	39	(11,575)	–		–		–	16,196
Other movements:
Cancellation of share premium	–	(35,422)	–	35,422	–		–		–	–
Prior years’ holding gains now realised	–	–	–	–	1,765		(1,765)		–	–
Total other movements	–	(35,422)	–	35,422	1,765		(1,765)		–	–
Balance as at 28 February 2021	1,461	57,966	173	67,477	(21,945)		78,169		(1,145)	182,156

Cash Flow Statement

	Unaudited Six months to 31 August 20 2 1 £’000	Unaudited Six months to 31 August 2020 £’000	Audited Year to 29 February 2021 £’000
Cash flows from operating activities
Profit before tax	18,928	15,088	50,850
Adjustments for:
(Increase)/decrease in debtors	1,650	(137)	(114)
Increase/(decrease) in creditors	568	(157)	123
Gain on disposal of fixed assets	(618)	(1,118)	(4,361)
Loss/(gain) on disposal of current assets	3	116	(58)
Gain on valuation of fixed asset investments	(17,114)	(14,585)	(44,908)
Gain on valuation of current asset investments	(2,516)	(543)	(3,655)
Non-cash distributions	(136)	–	(51)
Net cash generated from operating activities	765	(1,336)	(2,174)
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of fixed asset investments	(12,577)	(5,847)	(9,638)
Purchase of current asset investments	(1,650)	(541)	9,070
Sale of fixed asset investments	3,041	4,751	(5,040)
Sale of current asset investments	1,604	13,500	17,400
Net cash flows from investing activities	(9,582)	11,863	11,792
Cash flows from financing activities
Movement in applications account	10,308	(15,737)	(16,293)
Purchase of own shares	(4,039)	(1,117)	(3,940)
Share issues (net of costs)	150	9,178	28,196
Share issues costs	–	–	(1,842)
Dividends paid	(7,063)	(3,257)	(6,218)
Net cash flows from financing activities	(644)	(10,933)	(97)
Decrease/(increase) in cash and cash equivalents	(9,461)	(406)	9,521
Opening cash and cash equivalents	35,212	25,691	25,691
Closing cash and cash equivalents	25,751	25,285	35,212
Cash and cash equivalents comprise
Cash at bank	13,955	23,241	33,724
Applications cash	10,470	718	162
Money market funds	1,326	1,326	1,326
	25,751	25,285	35,212

Notes to the Half-Yearly Report

1.        Basis of preparation

        The unaudited half-yearly report which covers the six months to 31 August 2021 has been prepared in accordance with the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) Financial Reporting Standard 104 “Interim Financial Reporting” (March 2018) and the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) for Investment Companies re-issued by the Association of Investment Companies in April 2021.

        The principal accounting policies have remained unchanged from those set out in the Company’s 2021 Annual Report and Accounts.

2.        Publication of non-statutory accounts

        The unaudited half-yearly report for the six months ended 31 August 2021 does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of s.415 of the Companies Act 2006 and has not been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The comparative figures for the year ended 28 February 2021 have been extracted from the audited financial statements for that year, which have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The independent auditor’s report on those financial statements, in accordance with chapter 3 of part 16 of the Companies Act 2006, was unqualified. This half-yearly report has not been reviewed by the Company’s auditor.

3.        Earnings per share

        The earnings per share at 31 August 2021 is calculated on the basis of 144,559,555 (31 August 2020: 132,109,244 and 28 February 2021: 136,141,642) shares, being the weighted average number of shares in issue during the period.

        There are no potentially dilutive capital instruments in issue and, therefore, no diluted return per share figures are relevant. The basic and diluted earnings per share are therefore identical.

4. Net asset value per share

	31 August 202 1	31 August 2020	29 February 2021
Net assets (£’000)	190,132	135,002	182,156
Shares in Issue	144,191,668	132,592,788	146,112,119
Net Asset Value per share	131.9p	101.8p	124.7p

5.        Dividends

        The interim dividend declared of 2.5 pence per Ordinary share will be paid on 14 January 2022 to those shareholders on the register on 17 December 2021.

6.         Buybacks and share issues

        During the six months ended 31 August 2021 the Company repurchased the following shares.

Date	No. of shares	Price (p)	Cost (£)
18 March 2021	582,234	121.5	708,000
22 April 2021	873,887	126.0	1,101,000
20 May 2021	614,431	126.2	775,000
11 June 2021	286,885	129.4	371,000
30 July 2021	543,809	119.3	649,000
27 August 2021	356,433	122.0	435,000
Total	3,257,679		4,039,000

The weighted average price of all buybacks during the period was 124.0 pence per share. During the six months ended 31 August 2021 the Company issued the following shares.

Date	No. of shares	Price (p)	Gross proceeds (£)
15 April 2021	68,692	137.9	95,000
01 July 2021*	45,644	132.8	61,000
13 August 2021 (DRIS)	1,222,892	128.4	1,570,000
Total	1,337,228		1,726,000

*Shares issued as a result of reduced adviser charges, and reduced annual management fee for Octopus Employees.

        The weighted average allotment price of all shares issued during the period was 129.0 pence per share.

7.        Principal risks and uncertainties

        The Company’s principal risks are VCT qualifying status risk, valuation risk, investment risk, financial risk, regulatory and reputational risk, operational risk and economic and price risk. These risks, and the way in which they are managed, are described in more detail in the Company’s Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 28 February 2021. The Company’s principal risks and uncertainties have not changed materially since the date of that report.

8.        Related party transactions

        The Company has employed Octopus Investments Limited (“Octopus” or “the Manager”) throughout the period as Investment Manager. Octopus has also been appointed as Custodian of the Company’s investments under a Custodian Agreement. The Company has been charged £1,451,000 by Octopus as a management fee in the period to 31 August 2021 (31 August 2021: £896,000 and 28 February 2021 £1,948,000). The management fee is payable quarterly and is based on 2% of net assets at quarterly intervals.

        The Company has invested £1.65 million into Octopus managed funds (31 August 2020: £0.54 million and 28 February 2021 £5.0 million), being the Octopus Multi Cap fund. To ensure the Company is not double charged management fees on these products, the Company receives a reduction in the management fee as a percentage of the value of these investments. This amounted to £49,000 in the period to 31 August 2021 (31 August 2020: £48,000 and 29 February 2021 £78,000). For further details please refer to the Company’s Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 28 February 2021.

9.        Post balance sheet events

The following events occurred between the Balance sheet date and the signing of these financial statements.

•        Partial disposal of Ergomed plc for a consideration of £899,491;

•        On 24 September 2021, the Company purchased for cancellation 528,866 Ordinary Shares at a price of 123.7p;

•        A cancellation of Share Premium amounting to £58 million was granted on 22 September 2021 and this amount was transferred to Special Distributable Reserve

•        Full disposal of Parsley Box Group plc for a consideration of £30,293;

•        Full disposal of Vectura Group plc for a consideration of £913,762;

•        Partial disposal of ReNeuron Group plc for a consideration of £57,334.

10.        Additional information

        This report will be made available to all shareholders. Copies are also available from the registered office of the Company at 33 Holborn, London, EC1N 2HT, and will also be available to view on the Octopus website at www.octopusinvestments.com.

For further information please contact:

Uloma Adighibe
Octopus Company Secretarial Services Limited
Tel: [phone]