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LONDON (Alliance News) - Medical technology investment fund Hygea VCT PLC reported a total negative return for the first half of the year and said it was largely due to a drop in the shares of Scancell Holdings PLC, an AIM-listed company focused on cancer treatment.
Hygea said its net asset value per share was down to 69.1 pence a share at June 30 from 75.5p at the end of 2015. The venture capital trust declared no interim dividend, saying the current state of the AIM market "is not conducive to significant realisations".
Hygea shares were untraded at 45.00p Wednesday.
Hygea said the fall was driven by a negative capital return of 5.7p, as its AIM portfolio lost value, principally due to Scancell shares dropping to 16.25p a share from 21.5p a share in the half year. It noted that the value of its AIM portfolio dropped to less than half of the company's total assets. Scancell was untraded at 18.00p Wednesday, down 17% so far in 2016.
Hygea has investments in four AIM-quoted companies and 11 unquoted companies. The investment company said it made no changes to its unquoted portfolio apart from a further GBP200,000 investment in pesticide technology company Exosect.
"At our AGM in June, which was attended by a number of shareholders, the majority view remains that the portfolio holds significant potential, and we should minimise the sale of our portfolio holdings at the present time. Your board agrees and remains optimistic of the outcome for the fund notwithstanding the continuing delays in the timetable for any realisations" said Hygea Chairman John Hustler.
By Adam Clark; adamclark@alliancenews.com
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