Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 2844U

Unicorn AIM VCT PLC

28 July 2015

 



Unicorn AIM VCT plc

 Interim Management Statement

 For the period from 1 April 2015 to 30 June 2015

Introduction

The Company has prepared this voluntary Interim Management Statement (IMS) in accordance with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the UK Listing Authority. The IMS covers the three month period ended 30 June 2015, 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 an 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 carrying no preferential rights (save as permitted under VCT rules) to dividends or return of capital and no rights to redemption.

Performance

The three month period ended 30 June 2015 ended disappointingly for the main UK equity market. Having generated healthy total returns of +1.5% in April and +2.1% in May, the FTSE All-Share Index went into a relatively steep decline, registering a total return of -5.9% in June. As a consequence, the Index recorded a total return of -1.6% for the period as a whole. In contrast, the FTSE AIM All-Share Index performed considerably better, generating a total return of +5.9% over the same three month period.

The Company again delivered strong absolute and relative performance during the period, with Net Asset Value (NAV) increasing by +8.3%. NAV performance is calculated on a total return basis, after adding back dividends paid. No dividends were paid in the period.

As at 30 June 2015, the unaudited NAV was 148.4 pence per share, compared to an unaudited NAV of 137.0 pence per share as at 31 March 2015. Net assets amounted to £119.4 million at the period end.

A number of VCT qualifying holdings performed strongly in the period under review. The most notable of these was:-

Crawshaw Group (+29.7%) is a Yorkshire based chain of retail butchers. Crawshaw's share price rose strongly during the three months to 30 June 2015, following the release of final results in April. Group sales for the financial year ended 31 January 2015 were up 17% to £24.6 million (2014: £21.0 million), while profit before tax rose 20% to £1.2 million (2014: £1.0 million). The business is also in sound financial health. At its financial year end, Crawshaw held a net cash balance of £9.1 million. Growth plans are progressing well, with the business now operating a total of 39 stores. A further four stores are planned to open before Christmas. Sales, customer numbers and average spend all continue to increase, which augurs well for the delivery of further growth.

Other significant positive contributions came from Abcam (+6.6%), Access Intelligence (+56.6%), Animalcare (+18.2%), Anpario (+7.8%), Cohort (+10.8%) and Tracsis (+11.3%).

During the period, there were only a small number of holdings that performed poorly. In addition, most of the share price declines suffered by these investee companies were as a result of normal market movements rather than being caused by specific operational issues or materially disappointing trading.

In terms of negative absolute contribution, the three worst performers were; Tangent Communications (-26.7%), Hardide (-10.0%), and Pressure Technologies (-22.6%). The total unrealised loss generated during the period from these three investments amounted to £424,000.  

Despite modest falls in the value of holdings in Arbuthnot Banking Group (-4.6%) and Microgen (-10.0%), the net contribution to performance from non-qualifying investments was also strong during the period. The principal contributors to positive performance were; Renold (+52.6%), a manufacturer of industrial chain and Epwin Group (+36.4%), a manufacturer of U-PVC products for the housing sector. In absolute terms, these two investments generated an unrealised capital gain of over £1.4 million during the three months ended 30 June 2015.

Four new non-qualifying investments, with an aggregate book cost of just over £5 million in total, were made during the period:-

A sum of £2 million was allocated to purchasing units of the Unicorn Outstanding British Companies Fund (+1.9%), £1 million was invested in Communisis (-5.5%), one of Europe's leading providers of customer communications for major brands and a total of almost £1.9 million was allocated to purchasing shares in Pinewood Group (+22.7%), a leading provider of studio and related services to the worldwide film and television industries. Finally a modest initial investment of £121,000 was made in James Halstead (+16.0%), a major international group of companies that manufacture many of the notable brands in commercial, contract and consumer flooring.

In aggregate, during the period under review, the net unrealised capital gain from all non-qualifying investments amounted to over £2.5 million.

Total unrealised losses from the investment portfolio as a whole were under £1 million, which were modest in relation to the total unrealised capital gains of over £10 million recorded in the period. In net terms, the portfolio therefore added over £9 million in unrealised capital gains during the period under review.

Material Transactions

Two new VCT qualifying investments were made in the period:-

European Wealth Group (+10.8%) is a private wealth management business, founded in 2009. Its core services are financial planning, corporate pension advisory services and investment management. In May 2015, European Wealth announced an intention to raise up to £2 million via a placing of new shares. Unicorn AIM VCT was the principal supporter of this fund-raising, investing £1.76 million in new, VCT qualifying shares. Increased demand for investment management and financial planning services, together with continued consolidation in the Financial Services sector is expected to drive future growth.

Stride Gaming (+53.4%), is a multi-branded, real money, bingo-led online operator using proprietary and purchased software to provide online bingo and related gaming activities to players. Stride Gaming only operates in regulated markets, principally the UK. In May 2015, Stride Gaming successfully listed its shares on AIM, raising £11.2 million in the process to help fund its growth ambitions. Unicorn AIM VCT invested £1.4 million in the newly issued shares of Stride at IPO. The shares are VCT qualifying and have performed strongly since initial listing.

In addition, secondary VCT qualifying investments were made in two companies already held in the portfolio; Access Intelligence (£500,000) and Castleton Technology (£120,000).

As noted in the 'Performance' section above, four new non-qualifying investments were made in the period, amounting to a total capital commitment in excess of £5 million.

There were no disposals in the period.

Top 10 Equity Holdings at 30 June 2015

Stock		% of fund
Abcam		7.8%
Tracsis		5.8%
Anpario		5.7%
Mattioli Woods		4.3%
Crawshaw Group		3.5%
Cohort		3.2%
Interactive Investor		2.8%
Animalcare Group		2.3%
Renold		2.3%
Pinewood Group		1.9%
Total		39.6%

Share Buy-Backs / Issue of Equity

During the period from 1 April 2015 to 30 June 2015, the Company bought back 224,000 of its own Ordinary Shares for cancellation, at an average price of 125.7 pence per share.

In the same period, 8,298,251 Ordinary shares were issued under an open Offer for Subscription, at an average price of 137.7 pence per share.

In total, £24 million of additional capital, net of costs, was raised under this Offer for Subscription, which was closed on 1 May 2015. The Board would like to take this opportunity to welcome new Shareholders and to thank all Shareholders for their continued support.

There were 80,305,231 Ordinary Shares in issue at the date of this announcement.

Material Events

Accumuli, a leading UK based IT security specialist, was acquired in the period by NCC Group, a UK listed competitor.  The Company's Investment Manager accepted shares in NCC Group in exchange for the shares held in Accumuli on the basis that the management of NCC Group have an enviable track record of creating shareholder value over the past 10 years of its quoted life. In addition, these shares remain VCT qualifying for a period of two years following completion of the acquisition at the end of April 2015.

Since the period end, a non-qualifying investment of £2 million was made in the Convertible Preference Shares of City Pubs (East & West). City Pubs is a successful and rapidly expanding pub business founded in December 2011 and focused on owning predominantly freehold pubs in London and the South of England. The Preference Shares offer an attractive 6% yield and are convertible at a price of 160 pence per share. The most recent independent valuation of the City Pubs Group, valued the net tangible assets of the business as a whole at 140 pence per share. The Company's initial investment in the Ordinary Shares of City Pubs was made in October 2013 at a valuation equivalent to 102 pence per share.

A VCT qualifying investment totalling £975,000 was also completed after the period end, following the Company's participation in an oversubscribed placing of new ordinary shares in Belvoir Lettings, one of the UK's largest lettings franchises.

On 17 July 2015, the board of Unicorn AIM VCT plc ("the Company") announced that, subject to HMRC and regulatory approvals, it had reached agreement in principle with the board of Rensburg AIM VCT plc ("RAVCT") to acquire the assets and liabilities of RAVCT pursuant to a scheme of reconstruction following a tender offer of approximately £5 million which RAVCT intends to offer its shareholders. Unicorn Asset Management Limited has agreed to pay all the costs of both the Company and RAVCT in relation to the Scheme (excluding the costs of the Tender Offer and the termination costs of the investment manager of RAVCT). RAVCT is a VCT with the majority of its qualifying investments being in AIM companies, some of which the Company is already invested in. The acquisition is expected to result in the Company acquiring additional qualifying investments to support VCT qualification and increasing the net assets over which the cost base is spread, benefitting all Shareholders. Please visit the Company's website; www.unicornaimvct.co.uk for the full text related to this announcement. Further announcements will be made in due course.

On the same day, the Company announced that it had posted a circular to Shareholders in relation to a General Meeting to be convened in connection to a proposal to amend the Company's Investment Policy. The full text of this circular is also available on the Company's website.

There were no other material events during the period from 1 April 2015 to 30 June 2015.

Chris Hutchinson

Unicorn Asset Management

 

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