VCTs
VCT News
Big Audit Firm Break-Up and Northern VCT AGM
A report commissioned by the Labour Party has advocated the break-up of the big four audit firms that dominate the audits of FTSE-350 firms. The report, co-authored by Prof. Prem Sikka et al, even goes so far as to suggest that their share of that market should be limited to 50% and that joint audits be promoted. In addition it argues that audit firms should be banned from doing non-audit work for the same company, and an independent body to appoint audit ...
CAKE (Patisserie), Foresight 4 VCT AGM, Payment Companies and Dunelm
More bad news from Patisserie Holdings (CAKE) today – well at least you can’t say the directors are not keeping you informed about their dire situation which is not always the case in such circumstances.
Yesterday the company announced that its major operating company had received a winding-up petition from HMRC, of which the directors had only recently become aware. Today the company said after further investigation the board has reached the conclusion that without an “immediate injection of capital, the Directors ...
RIT Capital Partners, Foresight 4 VCT and Sepsis
RIT Capital Partners (RCP) is an investment trust that recently issued its interim report. As one of my longer standing holdings, first purchased in 2003 although I have reduced my holding of late, I read the report with interest. RCP has been a long-standing favourite of private investors having traditionally taken a somewhat defensive investment approach. But the portfolio is now most peculiar. It contains 8.8% of “quoted equities” but many of them are held as “swaps”, 27.7% in “long-only funds”, ...
Amati AIM VCT AGM and Retailers
Amati AIM VCT is one of those peculiar beasts – a Venture Capital Trust. Yesterday I attended their annual general meeting and here are some general comments on the company and the meeting:
Amati AIM VCT (AMAT) is the result a merger of the two Amati VCTs. They had very similar portfolios so this made a lot of sense, and the result is a large VCT with total assets of £147 million. This figure was also boosted by excellent performance last year ...
Horizon Discovery AGM and Chrysalis VCT
Yesterday I attended the Annual General Meeting of Horizon Discovery Group (HZD) in Cambridge. This is a new holding for me, and I don’t often buy shares in companies that are not reporting profits, but I thought it was worth going along to learn some more about the business. The company’s primary focus is on cell manipulation tools (gene editing, gene modulation) which they sell to drug development companies et al. I am not sure I have great understanding of the ...
Edge Performance VCT – the Worst Show on Earth?
Long suffering shareholders will note that the AGM of this underperforming VCT will be held in London on 11 June. But we’re in for a treat this year - there are not just one, but five meetings in store for us, and there is plenty for shareholders to consider. New performance fees, high general fees for a portfolio mostly in runoff, voting to entrench the manager further, and selective proxy gathering at your expense. There’s something here for everyone – except ...
Budget Feedback, the Patient Capital Review and Productivity
My last post on the Chancellors Budget was written quickly but seems to have covered most of the important points. Perhaps one significant item missed was the additional liability of foreign investors for capital gains tax on property sales, although institutional investors may be exempt. This might have some impact but as the details are not yet clear, it remains to be seen what.
Otherwise the media feedback on the budget was generally positive although there was a big emphasis on the ...
VCTs and the Budget
It looks like VCTs have escaped, but there is some tightening of the qualifications. We will need to read this in detail to see the outcome. There has however...
VCTs – Possible budget changes and pre-planning our response
The autumn statement/budget on 22nd November is getting closer, so we may soon learn the government's views on patient capital.
At a Proven VCT meeting on 1 November the VCT manager, Stuart Veale, seemed certain that something will change for VCTs, but nobody knows what. Richard Waltham spoke to him afterwards to suggest that if the changes are adverse then the main focus for lobbying could move from the Treasury to MPs. It may only take a handful of MPs to trigger ...
EDGE VCT – A Trick or Treat pair of RNSs
EDGE VCT released their half year report on 1st November, and there was no treat for shareholders. The results show yet another drop in NAV, with the valuation of each asset either unchanged or virtually unchanged. The drop therefore is entirely due to dividends and running expenses. (Dividends were paid to H holders and only a fraction of the I holders; the rest were left with an empty sweet bag). The H class now has £ 2.27 mio of net current ...
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