(Alliance News) - Amati AIM VCT PLC on Tuesday said it outperformed its benchmark in the first half of its financial year, with AB Dynamics PLC proving the strongest contributor.
In the six months to July 31, the venture capital trust's net asset value total return was 8.5%, versus a 3.5% return from the Numis Alternative Markets Total Return Index.
AB Dynamics, an automotive engineering firm, gained 65% in the period after "buoyant results in April and a placing in May" and helped drive Amati AIM's performance.
Other positive contributions were a 50% gain seen by Learning Technologies Group PLC on a positive trading update, which showed earnings before interest and taxation profitability as on track to beat market expectations in the 2019 calendar year.
The firm's NAV per share rose in the period to 154.5p on July 31 from 146.1p on December 31. However, the NAV per share did decline year-on-year, having been 175.7p at the end of July 2018.
Amati AIM declared a 3.5p per share interim dividend for the six month period, flat year-on-year.
Chair Peter Lawrence said: "The outlook seems remarkably similar to that of a year ago, still being dominated (at least in the UK) by the wait for clarification over both the timing and terms of Britain's departure from the European Union. The board is confident that the company's well diversified portfolio of growth oriented businesses and the policy of retaining the most successful investments over the longer term leaves the company well positioned in these uncertain times."
Paul Jourdan, David Stevenson, and Anna Macdonald - the trust's fund managers - said: "The final Brexit outcome, together with the political and economic environment created in its aftermath, is impossible to predict. There is the prospect, nonetheless, that a combination of the need for domestic stimulus to boost business activity and a heavily discounted valuation for UK equities, creates the conditions for renewed investor appetite. The company's portfolio is, however, slow moving by necessity and investments are selected for their longer term potential rather than any alignment with the stock market's more immediate time horizons. We remain confident about the ultimate growth potential contained within the portfolio, across a range of diverse businesses and end markets."
Shares in Amati AIM were untraded at 130.50 pence in London on Tuesday.
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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AB Dynamics (ABDP)
Learning Technologies Group (LTG)
Amati Aim Vct (AMAT)