22 Oct 2020 07:00
New Century AIM VCT plcFor 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 £5.953m 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 plcFor the six months to 31 August 2020
Unaudited Balance Sheet
Interim Accounts | Final Accounts | Interim Accounts | |||||||||||||||||
as at 31 August 2020 |
| as at 29 February 2020* | as at 31 August 2019 | ||||||||||||||||
£'000 | £'000 | £'000 | £'000 | £'000 | £'000 | ||||||||||||||
Fixed Assets | |||||||||||||||||||
Investments | 5,809 | 5,045 | 5,064 | ||||||||||||||||
Current Assets |
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| Debtors | 171 |
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| 164 |
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| 541 |
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| 171 |
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| 164 |
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| 541 |
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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 |
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| 400 |
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| 400 | ||||||||||
Revenue reserve | 293 | 319 | 597 | ||||||||||||||||
5,953 | 5,186 | 5,591 | |||||||||||||||||
Net Asset Value per share | 75.7p | 66.0p | 71.1p | ||||||||||||||||
*Audited | |||||||||||||||||||
New Century AIM VCT plcFor the six months to 31 August 2020
Unaudited Statement of Comprehensive Income
(incorporating the revenue account)
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| 6 month period ended 31 August 2020 | Year to 29 February 2020* | 6 month period ended 31 August 2019 | ||||||
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| Revenue | Capital | Total | Revenue | Capital | Total | Revenue | Capital | Total | |
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| £'000 | £'000 | £'000 | £'000 | £'000 | £'000 | £'000 | £'000 | £'000 |
Gains/(losses) on investments |
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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 |
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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 | |||||||||||
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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 plcFor the six months to 31 August 2020
Unaudited Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity
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Share Capital account£’000 |
Share Premium account£’000 | Capital Redemption Reserve£’000 | Capital realised£’000 | Capital unrealised£’000 | Revenue reserve£’000 | Total£’000 |
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As at 1 March 2020 | 786 | 682 | 400 | 922 | 2,077 | 319 | 5,186 |
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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 |
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As at 1 March 2019 | 786 | 682 | 400 | 205 | 2,755 | 580 | 5,408 |
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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 |
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Note: Some columns on this page may not cast because of rounding differences.
* Audited
New Century AIM VCT plcFor the six months to 31 August 2020
Unaudited Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity (continued)
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Share Capital account£’000 |
Share Premium account£’000 | Capital Redemption Reserve£’000 | Capital realised£’000 | Capital unrealised£’000 | Revenue reserve£’000 | Total£’000 |
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As at 1 March 2019 | 786 | 682 | 400 | 205 | 2,755 | 580 | 5,408 |
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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 |
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Note: Some columns on this page may not cast because of rounding differences.
New Century AIM VCT plcFor the six months to 31 August 2020
Unaudited Cash Flow Statement
6 month period ended 31 August 2020 | Year to 29 February 2020* | 6 month period ended 31 August 2019 | |||||||||
£'000 |
| £'000 | £'000 |
| £'000 | £'000 |
| £'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) |
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| (754) |
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| (427) |
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Dividends paid | - |
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| (275) |
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| - |
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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 | ||||||||
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*Audited |
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New Century AIM VCT plcFor the six months to 31 August 2020
Investment Portfolio
Security | Cost | Valuation | % | % | ||||
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| 31 August 2020 | Cost | Valuation | ||||
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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 |
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| AIM Quoted |
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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 plcFor the six months to 31 August 2020
Investment Portfolio (continued)
| AIM Quoted (continued) |
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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 plcFor the six months to 31 August 2020
Investment Portfolio (continued)
| AIM Quoted (continued) |
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| Yu Group plc | 27,893 | 11,895 | 0.38 | 0.20 | |||
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| 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 | ||||
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| Non Qualifying Investments |
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| AIM Quoted |
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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 |
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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 |
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| 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 | |||||
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Total Non-qualifying Investments | 500,814 | 179,658 | 6.79 | 3.01 |
New Century AIM VCT plcFor 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 £27k (the year ended 29 February 2020: £55k, the period ended 31 August 2019: £27k).
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 plcFor 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 | 4th 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 | |
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