27th May 2020 16:29
(Alliance News) - Calculus VCT PLC on Wednesday reported an annual net asset fall and has forecast it has since slipped even further due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Net asset value at February 29 was 7.4% lower annually at 70.20 pence from 75.8p a year prior.
Shares in the company were untraded at 50.00p each in London shortly before market close.
Calculus VCT reduced its payout by 5.9% to 3.2p per share from 3.4p.
The venture capital trust reported that tyre management investee WheelRight had a 65% valuation boost over the course of the year.
During the year, two investees, Terrain Energy and MicroEnergy merged to create Evoterra Ltd.
"The valuation of Evoterra has fallen by GBP290,000, as a result of operating challenges and global issues affecting the oil and gas market. Evoterra has divested several of its non-core assets to assist with cash flow management, but this has also had an impact on the value attributable to the remaining oil and gas reserves," Calculus explained.
"Unfortunately, Benito's Hat, the Mexican food chain, was written down to nil in the year due to the problems on the high street and in particular, the fast-casual dining market. The company has been experiencing trading difficulties and appointed administrators in February 2020 with no return for equity holders being anticipated."
Focus now shifts to the Covid-19 pandemic. Calculus said it has reviewed its portfolio as a result.
The company said: "Given the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on the global economy, the Manager has completed a review of the portfolio and estimated the impact of its holdings in its respective investee companies. The impact of these estimations would be to reduce the valuation of the investment portfolio by GBP552,402, which would result in an estimated fall in NAV (unaudited) by 3.7p to 66.5p per ordinary share. The movement reflects the company's current best estimate of the operating impact, both positive and negative, on our portfolio companies."
By Eric Cunha; [email protected]
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