Octopus AIM VCT PLC : Interim Management Statement

Octopus AIM VCT plc
Interim Management Statement

17 January 2014

In accordance with Rule 4.3 of the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure and Transparency rules, Octopus AIM VCT plc ("Company") presents an Interim Management Statement for the period 1 September 2013 to 13 January 2014. The statement also includes relevant financial information between the end of the period and the date of this statement.

Financial Summary

	1 September 2013 to 13 January 2014	6 months to 31 August 2013	12 months to 28 February 2013
Net assets (£000)	63,849	53,590	44,123
Net asset value per share ("NAV")	116.5p	104.4p	93.7p
Dividends paid  or proposed in the period	2.5p	2.5p	5.0p

Investment Performance
The period has seen a rise in the Net Asset Value (NAV) as the momentum in smaller company shares has gathered pace, helped by better economic news. It has also been helped by a good start to share trading amongst some of the new holdings as well as many of the companies in the portfolio meeting or exceeding profit expectations and being rewarded with higher share prices.  Breedon Aggregates, Advanced Computer Software, WANdisco and Fusionex were all significant contributors to the rise in NAV. The NAV rose from 104.4p as at 31^st August to 116.5p XD as at 13^th January 2014.  Adding back the proposed interim dividend of 2.5p means that the NAV rose by 14.0% in the period which compares with a 17.4% rise in the AIM All Share Index and a 14.1% rise in the Small Cap Index Ex Investment Trusts.  

Investment Activity
Since the 31^st August four new qualifying holdings totalling £1.74 million have been added, with the bulk of the investments made towards the end of 2013.  All four are in existing AIM companies seeking further funds to grow their businesses. Corac is a follow-on investment in an existing specialist engineering technology company already held by the VCT. Enables IT and Nasstar both offer outsourced computing services in the Cloud to customers and Proxama delivers loyalty and payment cards on a mobile device. In the non-qualifying portfolio new investments were made in Emis and Restore as well as adding to the holdings in Tasty and Brady. Some profits were taken in Quixant, Omega Diagnostics, Plus 500 and WANdisco and the entire holding of Active Risk was sold as a result of a bid for the company.   

Investment Portfolio - Ten Largest Holdings by Value as at 13 January 2014

Company	Sector	Carrying value £'000	% of net assets
Advanced Computer Software Group plc	Software	3,111	4.9%
Breedon Aggregates Limited	Construction	3,080	4.8%
Brooks MacDonald Group plc	Finance	2,247	3.5%
Staffline Recruitment Group plc	Support Services	2,063	3.2%
EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc	Healthcare	1,911	3.0%
MyCelx Technologies Corporation	Equities	1,906	3.0%
Netcall plc	Telecommunication	1,887	3.0%
Quixant plc	Computer Hardware	1,786	2.8%
Vertu Motors plc	General Retailer	1,687	2.6%
Tasty plc	Leisure	1,681	2.6%

Dividends
The Company announced an interim dividend of 2.5p. It was paid on 16 January 2014 to shareholders on the register on 20 December 2013.

Buybacks
During the period 1 September 2013 to 13 January 2014, the Company purchased 260,105 ordinary shares at a weighted average price of 104.1p per share.

Issue of shares
During the period 1 September 2013 to 13 January 2014, the Company issued 3,745,661 ordinary shares at a weighted average price of 116.1p per share.

Total Voting Rights
The Company's capital as at 13 January 2014 consisted of 54,810,205 ordinary shares with a nominal value of 1p each, with voting rights. The Company does not hold any ordinary shares in Treasury. Therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company as at 13 January 2014 was 54,810,205. 

Material events and transactions
The Board is not aware of any other significant event or transaction which has occurred between 1 September 2013 and the date of publication of this statement which would have a material impact on the financial position of the Company.

For further information please contact:
Andrew Buchanan and Kate Tidbury - Fund Managers
Octopus Investments Limited - 0800 316 2295
ENDS

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This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Octopus AIM VCT PLC via Globenewswire

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