New Century AIM VCT 2 asset value falls in "particularly tricky" half

(Alliance News) - New Century AIM VCT 2 PLC on Friday said its net asset value fell 17% in its latest half year and warned of further volatility to come, although the second half has "started positively".

The London-based venture capital trust, which invests in AIM-listed companies, said its NAV at June 30 was 39.6 pence per share, down 17% from 59.7p at the same time last year.

New Century AIM VCT 2 shares were untraded at 47.25 pence in London on Friday afternoon, having last traded August 1. Over the past 12 months, the stock is down 19%.

The NAV decline considerably outstripped New Century's benchmark, the FTSE AIM Allshare index, which fell by 9.4% over the same period.

"It has a been a particularly tricky period for the fund," Chair Geoffrey Gamble commented, "as investors continued to be nervous of inflationary pressures, interest rate rises, as well as the cost of living crisis, in addition to constrained supply chains and the war in Ukraine that all caused a general lack of appetite and liquidity in many small companies.

"There have also been many redemptions across small and micro-cap institutional funds which has had a negative effect on share prices."

New Century declared no dividend for the first half of 2023, unchanged from the prior year. It had previously declared 2.50p per share dividend for 2022, down from 4.00p for 2021.

The trust made four sales, either exiting or top-slicing holdings during the period. It also invested in transport-focused artificial intelligence platform Cordel Group PLC and in plant monitoring solutions developer Light Science Technologies Holdings PLC, reporting increased investor interest in the technology sector.

Gamble said the trust's performance was "disappointing," but that "the second half of the year has started positively with the NAV increasing by 3.2% when adjusting for the 2.5p dividend being paid."

Gamble continued: "We continue to have a wide spread of established companies across a variety of sectors within the fund and whilst we hope your fund will perform over the rest of the year, we are mindful that we could see further volatility in the months ahead."

By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter

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