NEW CENTURY AIM VCT: Half-year Report

TIDMNCA 
 

New Century AIM VCT plc

For the six months to 31 August 2020

Chairman's Statement

Business Update

It is pleasing to report that although March was a particularly difficult month for your fund and stock markets in general, it has since regained all of the declines in its net asset value (NAV) incurred during that month, and has outperformed its benchmark for the six months to 31 August 2020.

In the six months to 31 August 2020, the net asset value (NAV) of your fund increased by 14.8% to GBP5.953m or 75.7p per share (when using bid prices). The FTSE AIM Allshare index increased by 12.5% over the same period.

We believe the difficult decision to use existing cash resources to invest in new opportunities rather than fund a dividend at that time 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.

Dividend Declaration

Further short-term volatility is likely to occur for reasons such as those mentioned in my final paragraph. Nevertheless, as the fund's recent performance justifies it, we feel it is appropriate to award our shareholders an interim dividend of 1.5p per share. This recognises the importance of tax-free income to them whilst balancing the need to maintain sufficient cash to take advantage of any investment opportunities which may occur in the second half of the year. The Board has declared an interim dividend of 1.5p per share in respect of the financial year ending 28 February 2021, payable on 4 December 2020 to shareholders on the register on 6 November 2020. The ex-dividend date will be 5 November 2020.

Investment Strategy

We made ten further investments in the period, investing in AFC Energy PLC, Concepta PLC, Deepmatter PLC, Eden Research PLC, ECSC Group PLC, Feedback plc, Fusion Antibodies PLC, Gfinity PLC, Intelligent Ultrasound Group PLC and Synairgen PLC.

We made ten sales where we either exited or top-sliced a holding.

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 election and the uncertainty over what type of BREXIT we will have, as well as trying to contain a second wave of the virus and its further effects on the wider economy.

Geoff Gamble

22 October 2020

New Century AIM VCT plc

For the six months to 31 August 2020

Unaudited Balance Sheet

 
                       Interim Accounts  Final Accounts    Interim Accounts 
                       as at 31 August   as at 29          as at 31 August 
                       2020              February 2020*    2019 
                       GBP'000  GBP'000  GBP'000  GBP'000  GBP'000  GBP'000 
 
 Fixed Assets 
 Investments                    5,809             5,045             5,064 
 
Current Assets 
 Debtors               171               164               541 
                       171                        164      541 
Current Liabilities 
 Creditors: amounts 
  due 
 within one year                (27)              (23)              (14) 
 
Net Assets                      5,953             5,186             5,591 
 
 
 
 Capital and Reserves 
 
 Share capital                  786               786               786 
 Share premium                  682               682               682 
 Capital reserve - 
  realised                      1,047             922               847 
 Capital reserve - 
  unrealised                    2,745             2,077             2,279 
 Capital redemption 
  reserve                       400               400               400 
 Revenue reserve                293               319               597 
 
                                5,953             5,186             5,591 
 
Net Asset Value per             75.7p             66.0p             71.1p 
 share 
                                         *Audited 
 
 

New Century AIM VCT plc

For the six months to 31 August 2020

Unaudited Statement of Comprehensive Income

(incorporating the revenue account)

 
                   6 month period ended 31                                6 month period ended 31 
                   August 2020                Year to 29 February 2020*   August 2019 
                   Revenue  Capital  Total    Revenue  Capital  Total     Revenue  Capital  Total 
                   GBP'000  GBP'000  GBP'000  GBP'000  GBP'000  GBP'000   GBP'000  GBP'000  GBP'000 
Gains/(losses) on 
investments 
Realised           -        184      184      -        319      319       -        271      271 
Unrealised         -        629      629      -        (240)    (240)     -        (86)     (86) 
Income             9        -        9        91       -        91        53       -        53 
Investment 
 management fees   (7)      (20)     (27)     (14)     (41)     (55)      (7)      (20)     (27) 
Other expenses     (28)     -        (28)     (62)     -        (62)      (29)     -        (29) 
Return on 
 ordinary 
 activities        (26)     793      767      15       38       53        17       165      182 
Tax on ordinary 
activities         -        -        -        -        -        -         -        -        - 
Return on 
ordinary 
activities 
after taxation     (26)     793      767      15       38       53        17       165      182 
Return per 
 ordinary share 
 in pence          (0.33)   10.10    9.76     0.19     0.48     0.66      0.22     2.10     2.32 
 
                                              *Audited 
 
 

All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing operations in the current six month period. No operations were acquired or discontinued in the current period.

Other than that shown above, the company had no recognised gains or losses. Accordingly, the above represents the total comprehensive income for the period.

The weighted average number of shares in issue during the period was 7,860,937.

New Century AIM VCT plc

For the six months to 31 August 2020

Unaudited Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

 
              Share     Share     Capital 
              Capital   Premium   Redemption  Capital   Capital     Revenue 
              account   account   Reserve     realised  unrealised   reserve   Total 
              GBP'000   GBP'000   GBP'000     GBP'000   GBP'000      GBP'000    GBP'000 
 
As at 1 
 March 2020   786       682       400         922       2,077       319        5,186 
 
Realised 
 gains on 
 disposals    -         -         -           184       -           -          184 
Unrealised 
 gains        -         -         -           -         629         -          629 
Transfer of 
 unrealised 
 valuation 
 deficit to 
 realised 
 reserves on 
 disposal of 
 investments  -         -         -           (39)      39          -          - 
Net revenue 
 before tax   -         -         -           -         -           (26)       (26) 
Capital 
 element of 
 investment 
 management 
 fee          -         -         -           (20)      -           -          (20) 
              ________  ________  _________   ________  ________    ________   ________ 
At 31 August 
 2020         786       682       400         1,047     2,745       293        5,953 
 
 
 
As at 1 
 March 2019   786       682       400         205       2,755       580        5,408 
 
Realised 
 gains on 
 disposals    -         -         -           319       -           -          319 
Unrealised 
 Losses       -         -         -           -         (240)       -          (240) 
Transfer of 
 unrealised 
 valuation 
 gain to 
 realised 
 reserves on 
 disposal of 
 investments  -         -         -           439       (439)       -          - 
Net revenue 
 before tax   -         -         -           -         -           15         15 
Dividends 
 paid         -         -         -           -         -           (275)      (275) 
Capital 
 element of 
 investment 
 management 
 fee          -         -         -           (41)      -           -          (41) 
              ________  ________  _________   ________  ________    _________  ________ 
At 29 
 February 
 2020*        786       682       400         922       2,077       319        5,186 
 
 

Note: Some columns on this page may not cast because of rounding differences.

* Audited

New Century AIM VCT plc

For the six months to 31 August 2020

Unaudited Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity (continued)

 
              Share     Share     Capital 
              Capital   Premium   Redemption  Capital   Capital     Revenue 
              account   account   Reserve     realised  unrealised   reserve   Total 
              GBP'000   GBP'000   GBP'000     GBP'000   GBP'000      GBP'000    GBP'000 
 
As at 1 
 March 2019   786       682       400         205       2,755       580        5,408 
 
Realised 
 gains on 
 disposals    -         -         -           271       -           -          271 
Unrealised 
 Losses       -         -         -           -         (86)        -          (86) 
Transfer of 
 unrealised 
 valuation 
 gain to 
 realised 
 reserves on 
 disposal of 
 investments  -         -         -           391       (391)       -          - 
Net revenue 
 before tax   -         -         -           -         -           17         17 
Capital 
 element of 
 investment 
 management 
 fee          -         -         -           (20)      -           -          (20) 
              ________  ________  _________   ________  ________    _________  ________ 
At 31 August 
 2019         786       682       400         847       2,279       597        5,591 
 
 

Note: Some columns on this page may not cast because of rounding differences.

New Century AIM VCT plc

For the six months to 31 August 2020

Unaudited Cash Flow Statement

 
              6 month period                        6 month period 
              ended 31 August   Year to 29          ended 31 August 
              2020              February 2020*      2019 
              GBP'000  GBP'000  GBP'000   GBP'000   GBP'000  GBP'000 
 
Net cash 
 used in 
 operating 
 activities            (65)               (149)              (96) 
 
Cash flows 
 from 
 investing 
 activities 
Investment 
 income       9                 91                  53 
Net cash 
 from 
 investing 
 activities            9                  91                 53 
 
 
Cash flows 
 from 
 investing 
 activities 
Sale of 
 investments  374               1,178               938 
Purchase of 
 investments  (324)             (754)               (427) 
Dividends 
 paid         -                 (275)               - 
Net cash 
 generated 
 from 
 financing 
 activities            50                 149                511 
Net 
 (decrease) 
 / increase 
 in cash and 
 cash 
 equivalents           (6)                91                 468 
Cash and 
 cash 
 equivalents 
 at 
 beginning 
 of period             164                73                 73 
Cash and 
 cash 
 equivalents 
 at end of 
 period                158                164                541 
 
                                *Audited 
 

New Century AIM VCT plc

For the six months to 31 August 2020

Investment Portfolio

 
 Security                 Cost       Valuation       %       % 
                                     31 August 2020  Cost    Valuation 
 
 Qualifying Investments   6,712,519  5,629,233       91.07   94.35 
 Non-qualifying 
  Investments             500,814    179,658         6.79    3.01 
                          7,213,333  5,808,891       97.86   97.36 
 Uninvested funds         157,752    157,752         2.14    2.64 
                          7,371,085  5,966,643       100.00  100.00 
 Qualifying Investments 
 AIM Quoted 
 Access Intelligence plc  10,053     17,750          0.14    0.30 
 AFC Energy plc           50,254     60,875          0.68    1.02 
 Angle plc                125,880    105,981         1.71    1.78 
 Anglo African Oil & Gas 
  plc                     45,229     673             0.61    0.01 
 Audioboom Group plc      178,406    129,600         2.42    2.17 
 Bango plc                7,563      25,025          0.10    0.42 
 Belvoir Lettings plc     23,320     30,500          0.32    0.51 
 Bigblu Broadband plc     239,452    327,549         3.25    5.49 
 Bilby plc                156,673    51,066          2.13    0.86 
 Blackbird plc            97,991     374,400         1.33    6.27 
 Bould Opportunities plc  35,179     0               0.48    0.00 
 Brighton Pier Group plc  50,253     10,313          0.68    0.17 
 C4X Discovery Holding 
  plc                     65,329     96,633          0.89    1.62 
 Cloudbuy plc             58,483     228             0.79    0.00 
 Cloudcall Group plc      20,230     26,600          0.27    0.45 
 Collagen Solutions plc   20,757     18,659          0.28    0.31 
 Concepta plc             100,507    59,063          1.36    0.99 
 Coral Products plc       118,095    40,000          1.60    0.67 
 Creo Medical Group plc   30,053     70,619          0.41    1.18 
 Cyanconnode Holdings 
  plc                     376,755    25,445          5.11    0.43 
 DCD Media plc            562,800    1,700           7.64    0.03 
 Deepmatter plc           49,754     71,940          0.67    1.21 
 Diaceutics plc           10,314     24,165          0.14    0.41 
 DP Poland plc            20,113     0               0.27    0.00 
 Ecsc Group plc           20,104     20,000          0.27    0.34 
 Eden Research plc        60,304     66,000          0.82    1.11 
 Entertainment Ai plc     150,754    77,667          2.05    1.30 
 Escape Hunt plc          31,006     1,817           0.42    0.03 
 Falanx Group Ltd         105,736    28,154          1.43    0.47 
 Faron Pharmaceuticals 
  Ltd                     25,128     46,000          0.34    0.77 
 Feedback plc             100,508    109,000         1.36    1.83 
 

New Century AIM VCT plc

For the six months to 31 August 2020

Investment Portfolio (continued)

 
 AIM Quoted (continued) 
 Fusion Antibodies plc              12,064   10,667   0.16  0.18 
 Gear4Music Holdings lc             27,121   109,301  0.37  1.83 
 Gfinity plc                        116,218  144,427  1.58  2.42 
 HML Holdings plc                   266,497  329,000  3.62  5.51 
 Hunters Property plc               251,256  216,500  3.41  3.63 
 IDE Group Holdings plc             52,763   1,829    0.72  0.03 
 Ideagen plc                        28,430   187,184  0.39  3.14 
 Immotion Group plc                 130,661  81,641   1.77  1.37 
 Inspired Energy plc                51,370   260,743  0.70  4.37 
 Integumen plc                      45,922   116,411  0.62  1.95 
 Intelligent Ultrasound Group plc   170,848  147,036  2.32  2.46 
 I-Nexus Global plc                 70,353   3,101    0.95  0.05 
 K3 Business Technology Group plc   90,360   104,895  1.23  1.76 
 Keywords Studios plc               6,181    109,800  0.08  1.84 
 Lightwaverf plc                    45,233   3,177    0.61  0.05 
 Location Sciences Group plc        132,946  23,975   1.80  0.40 
 M.Winkworth plc                    64,320   112,000  0.87  1.88 
 Marechale Capital plc              133,828  23,718   1.82  0.40 
 Maxcyte Inc                        25,128   127,142  0.34  2.13 
 Microsaic Systems plc              164,417  13,552   2.23  0.23 
 Modern Water plc                   75,382   11,258   1.02  0.19 
 N4 Pharma plc                      60,304   69,450   0.82  1.16 
 Open Orphan plc                    115,581  73,413   1.57  1.23 
 Pelatro plc                        25,128   18,160   0.34  0.30 
 PHSC plc                           182,910  41,650   2.48  0.70 
 Polarean Imaaging plc              30,154   77,800   0.41  1.30 
 Property Franchise Group plc       100,503  160,000  1.36  2.68 
 Quixant plc                        6,935    18,225   0.09  0.31 
 Rosslyn Data plc                   27,037   4,483    0.37  0.08 
 Scholium Group plc                 50,253   15,000   0.68  0.25 
 Scancell Holdings plc              130,618  78,117   1.77  1.31 
 Solid State plc                    40,134   102,960  0.54  1.73 
 SRT Marine Systems plc             27,139   61,500   0.37  1.03 
 Sysgroup plc                       99,177   50,980   1.35  0.85 
 Tekcapital plc                     77,499   32,625   1.05  0.55 
 Touchstar plc                      281,400  67,500   3.82  1.13 
 TP Group plc                       109,278  49,289   1.48  0.83 
 Tristel plc                        38,409   472,320  0.52  7.92 
 ULS Technology plc                 48,241   79,200   0.65  1.33 
 Vianet Group plc                   40,175   30,550   0.55  0.51 
 Yourgene Health plc                69,349   59,340   0.94  0.99 
 

New Century AIM VCT plc

For the six months to 31 August 2020

Investment Portfolio (continued)

 
 AIM Quoted (continued) 
 Yu Group plc                       27,893     11,895     0.38   0.20 
                                    6,496,396  5,629,233  88.13  94.35 
 
  Unlisted Investments 
 Invocas Group plc                  100,400    0          1.36   0.00 
 Outsourcery plc                    45,027     0          0.61   0.00 
 Optare plc                         50,753     0          0.69   0.00 
 Syqic plc                          19,943     0          0.27   0.00 
                                    216,122    0          2.93   0.00 
 Total Qualifying Investments       6,712,519  5,629,233  91.07  94.35 
 
 Non Qualifying Investments 
 AIM Quoted 
 Audioboom Group plc                1,163      180        0.02   0.00 
 Bango plc                          291        286        0.00   0.00 
 Be Heard Group plc                 18,186     2,250      0.25   0.04 
 Cyanconnode Holdings plc           131        4          0.00   0.00 
 Driver Group plc                   8,992      5,800      0.12   0.10 
 Gateley Holdings plc               14,627     20,325     0.20   0.34 
 IDE Group Holdings plc             218        2          0.00   0.00 
 K3 Business Technology Group plc   131        105        0.00   0.00 
 Rotala plc                         60,796     29,700     0.83   0.50 
 Tristel plc                        60         480        0.00   0.01 
                                    104,594    59,132     1.42   0.99 
 
 
 UK Listed 
 Aviva plv                          22,268   14,130   0.30  0.24 
 Centrica plc                       10,074   1,381    0.14  0.02 
 Imperial Brands plc                23,763   12,525   0.32  0.21 
 Investec plc                       202,821  73,525   2.76  1.24 
 Twentyfour Income Fund Ltd         9,852    8,630    0.13  0.14 
 Vodafone Group plc                 20,590   10,334   0.28  0.17 
                                    289,369  120,525  3.93  2.02 
 Unlisted Investments 
 China Food Company plc             65,969   0        0.90  0.00 
 Gable Holdings Inc                 12,112   0        0.16  0.00 
 Mar City plc                       10,053   0        0.14  0.00 
 Sorbic International plc           18,717   0        0.25  0.00 
                                    106,851  0        1.45  0.00 
 
 Total Non-qualifying Investments   500,814  179,658  6.79  3.01 
 

New Century AIM VCT plc

For the six months to 31 August 2020

Notes to the Accounts

This interim financial information and the unaudited interim accounts for the six months to 31 August 2020 from which it has been extracted, are the responsibility of the directors and were approved by them on 30 October 2020, do not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 434 of the Companies Act 2006 and have not been delivered to the Registrar of Companies.

The Company is an investment company as defined in Section 833 of the Companies Act 2006. The unaudited interim accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Financial Reporting Council's (FRC) Financial Reporting Standard 104 Interim Financial Reporting (March 2018) and with the Statement of Recommended Practice for Investment Companies re-issued by the Association of Investment Companies in October 2019.

The unaudited interim accounts have been prepared using accounting policies that the company applied in the accounts for the year ending 29 February 2020, incorporating FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland. The company considers these accounting policies will be used in the accounts for the year ending 28 February 2021.

Listed, AIM or NEX Markets-traded investments are stated at market value, which is based upon market bid prices at the balance sheet date. These would all meet tier 1 of the fair value hierarchy.

7,860,937 Ordinary Shares of 10 pence each were in issue throughout the period under review.

The net asset value per share, using bid-prices to value the fund's investment portfolio, at 31 August 2020 was 75.7p (at 29 February 2020: 66.0p; 31 August 2019: 71.1p).

No dividend was paid in the period.

There have not been any significant events since the balance sheet date.

New Century AIM VCT plc is managed by M D Barnard & Company Limited ('MDB'). Under the terms of the management agreement MDB are entitled to a fee (exclusive of VAT) equal to 1% per annum of the net assets of the company. During the period the management fee was GBP27k (the year ended 29 February 2020: GBP55k, the period ended 31 August 2019: GBP27k).

Bearing in mind that the assets of the Company consist mainly of marketable securities, the directors are of the opinion that at the time of approving this interim financial information, the company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing this interim financial information.

Copies of the Interim Report to Shareholders have been sent to shareholders and are available at the Company's Registered Office: Tricor Secretaries Ltd, 4th Floor, 50 Mark Lane, London EC3R 7QR.

New Century AIM VCT plc

For the six months to 31 August 2020

Directors, Investment Managers and Advisors

 
Directors, Investment Manager and Advisors 
 
Directors                      Geoffrey Charles Gamble (Chairman) 
                               Michael David Barnard 
                               Peter William Riley 
                               Ian Cameron-Mowat 
                               Simon Like 
 
Secretary                      Tricor Secretaries Ltd 
and registered office          4(th) Floor, 50 Mark Lane 
                               London EC3R 7QR 
 
Investment Manager and Broker  MD Barnard & Company Ltd 
                               First Floor 
                               12 Hornsby Square 
                               Southfields Business Park 
                               Basildon 
                               Essex SS15 6SD 
 
Registrars                     Neville Registrars 
                               Neville House 
                               Steelpark Road 
                               Halesowen 
                               West Midlands 
                               B62 8HD 
 
Auditor                        UHY Hacker Young LLP 
                               Quadrant House 
                               4 Thomas More Square 
                               London E1W 1YW 
 
Bankers                        Bank of Scotland 
                               New Uberior House 
                               11 Earl Grey Street 
                               Edinburgh EH3 9BN 
 
 
 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201021005040/en/

 
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NEW CENTURY AIM VCT PLC

 
    SOURCE: New Century AIM VCT Plc 
Copyright Business Wire 2020 
 

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October 22, 2020 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)