Crown Place VCT PLC Crown Place Vct Plc : Interim Management Statement

 
TIDMCRWN 
 

Crown Place VCT PLC

Interim Management Statement

LEI Code: 213800SYIQPA3L3T1Q68

Introduction

I am pleased to present Crown Place VCT PLC's interim management statement for the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2022.

Performance and dividends

The Company's unaudited net asset value (NAV) as at 31 March 2022 was GBP86.0 million or 33.71 pence per share (excluding treasury shares). After accounting for a dividend of 0.84 pence per share which was paid on 31 March 2022 to shareholders on the register on 11 March 2022 the NAV has increased by 0.79 pence per share (2.4 per cent.) since 31 December 2021.

Fundraising and share issues

During the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2022, the Company issued the following new Ordinary shares of nominal value 1 penny per share under the Albion VCTs Prospectus Top Up Offers 2021/22:

 
                                           Issue price per share 
                      Number of shares      (including costs of   Net proceeds 
Date                       issued                 issue)             GBP'000 
-----------------  ----------------------  ---------------------  ------------ 
25 February 2022               30,665,580       34.30p to 34.70p        10,374 
-----------------  ----------------------  ---------------------  ------------ 
31 March 2022                   1,838,353                 33.80p           606 
-----------------  ----------------------  ---------------------  ------------ 
 

On 2 March 2022, the Company announced that applications under the Prospectus offer had reached its GBP12 million gross limit and was therefore fully subscribed and closed to further applications.

The Company also issued the following shares under the dividend reinvestment scheme which are included in the net asset value figures for 31 March 2022 above:

 
                                                                Net invested 
Date            Number of shares issued  Issue price per share     GBP'000 
--------------  -----------------------  ---------------------  ------------ 
31 March 2022                 1,137,670            32.92 pence           357 
--------------  -----------------------  ---------------------  ------------ 
 

The Company continues to offer a Dividend Reinvestment Scheme to existing shareholders. Details of this Scheme can be found at www.albion.capital/funds/CRWN.

Portfolio

The following investments have been made during the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2022:

 
New investments    GBP'000                       Activity 
-----------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------- 
Perchpeek Limited    672               Digital relocation platform 
-----------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------- 
Regulatory Genome 
Development                 Provider of machine readable structured regulatory 
Limited              116                          content 
-----------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------- 
Total further 
 investments           788 
-----------------  ------- 
 
 
Further investments  GBP'000                          Activity 
-------------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------------- 
                                 A provider of a connectivity solution, connecting 
                               financial institutions with trading venues via a single 
TransFICC Limited      846                               API 
-------------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------------- 
Seldon Technologies             Software company that enables enterprises to deploy 
Limited                615              Machine Learning models in production 
-------------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------------- 
Cantab Research                Provider of low footprint automated speech recognition 
Limited (T/A                      which can be deployed in the cloud, on premise or 
Speechmatics)          445               on device across over 31 languages 
-------------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------------- 
Black Swan Data 
Limited                336            Predictive analytics for consumer brands 
-------------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------------- 
Nuvoair Holdings               Digital therapeutics and decentralised clinical trials 
Inc.                   152                   for respiratory conditions 
-------------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------------- 
Koru Kids Limited      83        Online marketplace connecting parents and nannies 
-------------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------------- 
Locum's Nest                     Provides a technology solution for the management 
Limited                82                   of locum doctors for the NHS 
-------------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------------- 
Total further 
 investments           2,559 
-------------------  ------- 
 

Disposals

The following disposals were made during the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2022:

 
Portfolio Company  GBP000s 
-----------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------- 
Credit Kudos                Disposal of investment on a cost of GBP0.5 million 
Limited             2,352       realising a gain of GBP1.9 million on cost 
-----------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------- 
                            Disposal of investment on a cost of GBP0.6 million 
Phrasee Limited     1,991       realising a gain of GBP1.4 million on cost 
-----------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------- 
                            Disposal of investment on a cost of GBP0.5 million 
MyMeds&Me Limited   1,476       realising a gain of GBP1.0 million on cost 
-----------------  -------  -------------------------------------------------- 
Total proceeds       5,819 
-----------------  ------- 
 

Top ten holdings as at 31 March 2022:

 
                                     % of 
                                      net 
                     Carrying value  asset 
Investment               GBP'000     value                           Activity 
-------------------  --------------  -----  ---------------------------------------------------------- 
Quantexa Limited         10,119      11.8      Network analytics platform to detect financial crime 
-------------------  --------------  -----  ---------------------------------------------------------- 
Proveca Limited               3,993    4.6                       Reformulation of paediatric medicines 
-------------------  --------------  -----  ---------------------------------------------------------- 
                                            Technology enabled service business in medical nutritional 
Oviva AG                      3,634    4.2                                               therapy (MNT) 
-------------------  --------------  -----  ---------------------------------------------------------- 
Chonais River Hydro                                 Owner and operator of a 2 MW hydro-power scheme in 
Limited                       3,276    3.8                                      the Scottish Highlands 
-------------------  --------------  -----  ---------------------------------------------------------- 
Radnor House School 
(TopCo) Limited               3,145    3.7                   Independent school for children aged 2-18 
-------------------  --------------  -----  ---------------------------------------------------------- 
The Evewell Group                            Operator and developer of women's health centres focusing 
Limited                       2,415    2.8                                                on fertility 
-------------------  --------------  -----  ---------------------------------------------------------- 
Cantab Research                                 Provider of low footprint automated speech recognition 
Limited (T/A                                         which can be deployed in the cloud, on premise or 
Speechmatics)                 1,923    2.2                               on device across 31 languages 
-------------------  --------------  -----  ---------------------------------------------------------- 
Gharagain River                                     Owner and operator of a 1 MW hydro-power scheme in 
Hydro Limited                 1,793    2.1                                      the Scottish Highlands 
-------------------  --------------  -----  ---------------------------------------------------------- 
Elliptic 
Enterprises                                      Provider of Anti Money Laundering services to digital 
Limited                       1,529    1.8                                          asset institutions 
-------------------  --------------  -----  ---------------------------------------------------------- 
Black Swan Data 
 Limited                      1,355    1.6                    Predictive analytics for consumer brands 
-------------------  --------------  -----  ---------------------------------------------------------- 
 

Share buy-backs

During the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2022, the Company purchased 2,022,762 shares for GBP636,000 including stamp duty, at an average price of 31.27 pence per share. All of the shares are to be held in treasury.

It remains the Board's policy to buy back shares in the market, subject to the overall constraint that such purchases are in the Company's interest, including the maintenance of sufficient resources for investment in existing and new portfolio companies and the continued payment of dividends to shareholders.

It is the Board's intention for such buy-backs to be at around a 5 per cent. discount to net asset value, so far as market conditions and liquidity permit.

Material events and transactions after the period end

After the period end, the Company undertook the following material investment transaction:

   -- Investment of GBP532,000 in an existing portfolio company, Gravitee Topco 
      Limited, an open source API management platform. 

The following new Ordinary shares of nominal value 1 penny each were allotted under the Albion VCTs Prospectus Top Up Offers 2021/22 to shareholders who elected for the 2022/23 tax year:

 
                                          Issue price per share 
                                           (including costs of    Net proceeds 
Date            Number of shares issued          issue)              GBP'000 
--------------  -----------------------  -----------------------  ------------ 
11 April 2022                 2,215,278         33.50p to 33.80p           730 
--------------  -----------------------  -----------------------  ------------ 
 

There have been no other material events or transactions after the period end to the date of this announcement.

Further information

Further information regarding historic and current financial performance and other useful shareholder information can be found on the Company's webpage on the Manager's website at www.albion.capital/funds/CRWN.

Penny Freer, Chairman

[e-mail]

17 May 2022

For further information please contact:

Vikash Hansrani

Operations Partner

Albion Capital Group LLP

Telephone: [phone]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 17, 2022 06:58 ET (10:58 GMT)

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