Foresight Ent Share News (FTF)

(Alliance News) - Foresight 4 VCT PLC on Friday said its net asset value per share fell in the first half of its financial year following a GBP7.8 million dividend payment.

The venture capital trust posted a 65.3 pence NAV per share as at September 30, down 3.7% from 67.8p on March 31. However, including the payment of a 4.0p per share interim dividend during the six month period, NAV per share rose 2.2% to 69.3p.

The portfolio's value rose by GBP4.3 million in the period but this was more than offset by the dividend payment made. This was equal to the dividend declares in the first half of its previous financial year

Chair Raymond Abbott said of this dividend: "The board's objective is to maintain a sustainable level of dividend payments from an increased NAV on an annual basis. The investment rule changes will result in new investments taking longer to mature on average and may impact NAV growth in the future. The intention of the board is to maintain dividends at a level of 5% of NAV plus special dividends in the event of material realisations.

Commenting on outlook, Abbott said: "The persisting uncertainty over Brexit and worrying indicators for various areas of world trade are unhelpful for business in general. Foresight 4 VCT invests primarily in developing companies which by their nature benefit from general economic growth, and the current environment places additional demands upon them and their management teams.

"Foresight group's private equity team is well aware of the management and business needs of each of the companies within the investment portfolio and is working closely with them to ensure that they are able to make progress during these testing times. The board and the manager are optimistic that the existing portfolio has potential to grow further during the current year and beyond and that the present pipeline of potential investments includes some attractive opportunities."

Shares in Foresight 4 closed down 1.8% at 56.00p in London on Friday

By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com

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