28th Aug 2020 13:51
(Alliance News) - New Century AIM VCT 2 on Friday said it outperformed its benchmark in the first half of 2020 and is hoping to resume dividend payments in 2020.
The net asset value of the fund fell 2.5% in the six months to June 30 when measured using bid prices, while the FTSE AIM Allshare index fell 7.8% for the same period.
The venture capital trust's NAV per share was 48.3 pence as at June 30, falling from 49.5p at the end of 2019.
"We believe the difficult decision to use existing cash resources to invest in new opportunities rather than fund a dividend has proved to be the correct one as we have seen a strong recovery in the NAV from the lows experienced in the stock market sell off in March 2020 and we hope, subject to the possible volatility mentioned below, to be able to recommence paying a dividend next year," said Chair Geoff Gamble.
Commenting on outlook, Gamble said: "We have a wide spread of established companies across a variety of sectors within the fund and whilst we hope your fund will continue to outperform over the rest of the year, we are mindful that we could see further volatility this autumn/winter. The second half of the year has political events such as the US presidential elections and the uncertainty over what type of Brexit we will have as well as the possibility of a second wave of the virus."
Shares in New Century AIM VCT 2 were untraded on Friday afternoon, having last closed at 38.00p.
By Anna Farley; [email protected]
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