24th Mar 2015 10:28
LONDON (Alliance News) - Mobeus Income & Growth VCT PLC Tuesday hailed an "excellent year for disposals", as asset sales at healthy valuations bolstered key performance indicators.
The venture capital trust said its net asset value total return per share for 2014 was 17.1%, while the share price total return per share for the year was 21.4%. NAV per share at the end of the year was 99.44 pence.
Mobeus said it sold part of its stake in ATG Media and disposed of investments in MachineWorks, Monsal and DiGiCo Global in the first half of the year, followed by Focus, Youngman and EMaC in the second half, for a total of GBP20.7 million against a cost of GBP4.9 million. It put GBP9.9 million into new investments.
"This strong performance was attributable to one principal factor: the number of realisations in this period has been exceptional and these sales achieved returns markedly in excess of their valuations at the start of the year," Chairman Keith Niven said in a statement.
The chairman said the challenge for the trust and investment adviser Mobeus Equity Partners LLP, the small business investor, is to maintain performance and levels of investment over the longer term.
"Current deal flow is encouraging, enabling the adviser to assess a number of promising opportunities now and over the coming months, some of which should convert into investments in the future," Niven said.
"We aim to invest only in well-run, profitable companies, operating mainly in niche markets which we believe have the potential to grow and which can thrive across a range of economic conditions. Many of our investee companies continue to trade profitably and grow and the Adviser is also considering opportunities for further investment to support such companies within the portfolio," Niven added.
According to Mobeus Equity Partners LLP, it is in pursuit of several opportunities it hopes will materialise over the coming months.
"Deal flow remains healthy, reflecting our perception that the level of merger and acquisition activity in the UK small company sector continues to be solid. Our intention is to maximise the opportunities presented by these current favourable market conditions to steer new investment deals through to completion, to meet our aims of sustaining current investment levels and securing continued good returns to shareholders," Mobeus Equity Partners said.
Mobeus Income & Growth VCT shares were untraded on Tuesday. The stock closed at 86 pence on Monday.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Mobeus I&g