27th Nov 2018 13:04
LONDON (Alliance News) - Unicorn AIM VCT PLC said Tuesday its net asset value increased in its most recent financial year after an uplift in the value of two private investments.
As at September 30, the end of the venture capital trust's financial year, its net asset value stood at 171.83 pence, up from 163.14p.
Two private investments which significantly contributed to this were software-as-a-service business Hasgrove and online investment platform Interactive Investor.
The carrying value of Hasgrove's share in the Unicorn portfolio has more than tripled to 384p per share from 125p per share within the year, resulting in an unrealised capital gain for Unicorn's financial year of GBP4.3 million.
Interactive Investor, meanwhile, held a carrying value of GBP39.00 per share until the end of the financial year. However, a recent transaction in Interactive's shares at a GBP78.40 per share price meant that the carrying value was adjusted upwards, equating to a GBP3.1 million unrealised capital gain during Unicorn's year.
Unicorn is to pay a final 3.5p per share dividend, brining the total dividend for its financial 2018 year to 6.5p, flat year-on-year.
In 2017, the UK government introduced new legislation governing venture capital trusts in order to drive more capital toward young and developing businesses.
From the start of the tax year ended 2020, at least 80% of a venture capital trust's total assets must be invested in VCT qualifying companies, up from 70%.
As at the end of its financial year, Unicorn met this requirement. However, Unicorn Chairman Peter Dicks noted that "there is likely to be a higher failure rate among these more recent investments, since they are less well established and often still loss-making".
Dicks also commented on "significant volatility in global equity markets" in its financial 2019 year thus far but said the trust is "well-placed" to cope with short-term challenges.
Shares in Unicorn were untraded on Tuesday at 130.00 pence.
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Unicorn Asset Management