Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 7841B

Unicorn AIM VCT PLC

09 January 2015

 



Unicorn AIM VCT plc

Interim Management Statement 

For the period from 1 October 2014 to 31 December 2014.

Introduction

The Company has prepared this Interim Management Statement for the three month period ended 31 December 2014, together with relevant information up to the date of publication.

Investment Objective

The Company's objective is to provide Shareholders with an attractive return from a diversified portfolio of investments, predominantly in the shares of AIM quoted companies, by maintaining a steady flow of dividend distributions to Shareholders from the income as well as capital gains generated by the portfolio.

It is also the objective that the Company should continue to qualify as a Venture Capital Trust, so that Shareholders benefit from the taxation advantages that this brings. To achieve this at least 70% of the Company's total assets are to be invested in qualifying investments of which 30% by VCT value (70% for funds raised after 6 April 2011) must be in ordinary shares which carry no preferential rights (save as permitted under VCT rules) to dividends or return of capital and no rights to redemption.

Performance

As at 31 December 2014, the unaudited Net Asset Value (NAV) was 144.6 pence per share, compared to an audited NAV of 143.7 pence per share as at 30 September 2014. In the three months ended 31 December 2014, NAV therefore increased by 0.6%. By comparison, the FTSE All-Share Index (excluding investment trusts) rose by 0.5%, while the FTSE AIM All-Share Index declined by 6.0%. NAV and Index performance is calculated on a total return basis, after adding back dividends paid. No dividends were paid by the Company during the period.

UK equity markets ended the period almost unchanged, but this performance, masks a relatively volatile three months during which the FTSE All-Share Index rose or fell in value by at least 6% on four different occasions. Notwithstanding the increased volatility of the wider market and poor share price performance from a small number of stocks, the total return from the portfolio was positive in the period.

The share prices of Eclectic Bars, Photonstar, Pressure Technologies and Tangent all fell by more than 20% as the market reacted to cautious outlook statements from the management teams of these businesses.

In contrast, twelve of the holdings in the portfolio increased in value by more than 10%. In percentage terms, the standout performance came from Castleton Technology, a provider of software and managed services, the shares of which rose by 64% in the period following an issue of new equity to help fund a potentially transformational acquisition. In absolute terms, the positive contributions from Abcam (+15.8%), Anpario (+14.9%) and Tracsis (+13.5%) made the greatest impact, being the three largest holdings in the portfolio by value.   

Material Transactions

Five follow-on investments were made during the period. The total cost of these purchases was just over £2 million.

In order to manage stock specific risk effectively and to maintain appropriate cash balances, a partial disposal in Mears Group was also made. This partial realisation generated cash proceeds of £1.6 million.

Top 10 Equity Holdings as at 31 December 2014

Stock                                                                                 % of net assets

Abcam                                                                               8.4%

Tracsis                                                                               7.4%

Anpario                                                                               6.1%                                     

Mattioli Woods                                                                    4.6%

Crawshaw                                                                           3.9%

Cohort                                                                                 3.1%

Animalcare Group                                                                2.1%

WYG                                                                                   2.1%

Unicorn Mastertrust Fund                                                      2.1%

Idox                                                                                     2.0%

Total                                                                                   41.8%

Share Buy-Backs/Issue of Equity

During the period from 1 October 2014 to 31 December 2014, the Company bought back 495,000 of its own ordinary shares at an average price of 128.4 pence per share. The average discount to the net asset value per share at which the shares were bought back during the period was 9.8%.

Three allotments were made in the period under review, in connection with the £15 million Offer for Subscription, launched on 17 September 2014. A total of 4,312,888 new Ordinary Shares were issued at prices ranging between 141.9 and 149.9 pence per share.

As a result of these transactions, the total number of shares in issue at the period end was 67,986,000.

Material Events

There were no other material events during the period from 1 October 2014 to 31 December 2014.

Contact details for further enquiries:

Chris Hutchinson of Unicorn Asset Management Limited (the Investment Manager),

on 020 7253 0889.

Jon Carslake at ISCA Administration Services Limited (the Company Secretary)

on 01392 487056 or by e-mail on [e-mail]

9 January 2015

DISCLAIMER

Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website:- www.unicornaimvct.co.uk  (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

 

END

 

 

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