MavIncGroVCT4 - Half-year Report
29/08/2025 07:00
RNS Number : 1065X Maven Income & Growth VCT 4 PLC 29 August 2025 Maven Income and Growth VCT 4 PLC Interim Results for the Six Months Ended 30 June 2025 Highlights • NAV total return at 30 June 2025 of 153.32p per Ordinary Share • NAV at 30 June 2025 of 56.72p per Ordinary Share • Increased interim dividend of 2.75p per Ordinary Share paid on 29 August 2025 • Offer for Subscription closed early, fully subscribed, raising £10 million • Four new private companies added to the portfolio • In early July 2025, the material realisation of Horizon Ceremonies completed, generating an initial return of 2.33x cost and over £5 million in cash, with the potential for further deferred proceeds • New Offer for Subscription to be launched in early Autumn 2025 Overview Your Company has delivered a resilient performance during the first half of the financial year. Most of the companies in the private equity portfolio have continued to make positive progress and achieve scale, which has resulted in the valuations of certain holdings being uplifted. Conversely, AIM continues to be a challenging market, and the value of your Company's AIM quoted portfolio has declined further, which has modestly impacted performance. Over recent years, your Company's exposure to AIM has been reducing and now represents less than 2% of NAV. The Manager will continue to focus on narrowing this portfolio to a small number of conviction holdings where there is scope for M&A activity, with new investment activity concentrated on expanding the private equity portfolio where the Manager continues to see good demand for growth capital. It is, therefore, encouraging that, on 1 April 2025, the most recent Offer for Subscription closed early, fully subscribed, having raised £10 million. With good levels of liquidity, your Company is well positioned to continue to progress its investment strategy, which is focused on expanding the unlisted portfolio in size and scale through the selective addition of ambitious and entrepreneurial businesses with high growth potential. In the year to date, four new private companies have been added to the portfolio and, shortly after the period end, the exit from Horizon Ceremonies, the largest holding in the portfolio, completed. Further to this material realisation, the Directors were pleased to declare an increased interim dividend of 2.75p per Ordinary Share, which was paid to Shareholders on 29 August 2025. During the period under review, the macroeconomic outlook has been dominated by ongoing geopolitical tensions, with domestic growth prospects remaining subdued as the full impact of the Autumn 2024 budget filters through the economy. Against this backdrop, it is encouraging to report that your Company has delivered a resilient performance, which helps to demonstrate the strength of the investment strategy and its ability to support long term growth in Shareholder value. The previous financial year was your Company's most successful period for realisations from the growth portfolio, with the completion of seven profitable private company exits to a range of private equity and trade buyers. Following this high level of M&A activity, a key priority for the new financial year has been to maintain a steady rate of investment to replenish the portfolio through the addition of high growth companies, whilst also providing follow-on funding to support those portfolio companies that are making commercial progress and where additional growth capital can help to expedite their expansion plans. It is pleasing to report that, during the period under review, £4.8 million was deployed, with four new private companies added to the portfolio alongside the provision of follow-on funding to support the growth and progression of 17 existing portfolio holdings. The Manager continues to see good demand for growth capital across its network of regional offices and maintains a focus on identifying entrepreneurial companies, with strong management teams, that operate in disruptive or high growth sectors such as cyber security, data analytics, regtech, speciality software and training, where growth is less sensitive to consumer or discretionary spending and where revenues tend to be contracted and recurring in nature. Having an established level of recurring revenues provides the Manager with a key metric against which progress and commercial traction can be monitored and measured. It is also an important benchmark that potential acquirers will review when evaluating the rate of progression of a business and its growth potential. Notably, several of the earlier stage businesses in the portfolio are now achieving scale, with annual recurring revenues (ARR) reaching, or exceeding, the important milestone of £5 million, which is generally regarded as a key inflexion point in order to attract potential buyers. There are a number of high performing companies in the portfolio that are establishing strong positions in their respective markets, both in the UK and internationally, and which have the potential to deliver superior returns at exit. A notable development, shortly after the period end, was the material realisation of Horizon Ceremonies, the owner and operator of three established crematoria. Your Company first invested in Horizon Ceremonies in 2017, backing an experienced team with a clear strategic objective to build, own and operate a portfolio of next generation crematoria located across the UK, in areas that were historically underserved or where the existing facility was outdated. Horizon's crematoria have quickly become important community facilities and have consistently received industry recognition and awards for their exceptional service and support to families. Having received several unsolicited acquisition approaches, a competitive exit process was initiated in 2024, with the sale to UK pension fund, Railpen, completing in early July 2025. The exit generated an initial return of 2.33x cost, and over £5 million in cash, with potential for further deferred proceeds, contingent on planning approval being granted at two well progressed sites. Enhanced Dividend Policy The Directors understand the importance of tax free distributions to Shareholders and, as announced in the 2024 Annual Report, have enhanced the dividend policy by increasing the target annual yield from 5% to 6% of NAV per Ordinary Share at the immediately preceding year end. Shareholders should be aware that this remains a target and that decisions on distributions take into consideration a number of factors including the realisation of capital gains, the adequacy of distributable reserves, the availability of surplus revenue and the VCT qualifying level, all of which are kept under close and regular review. As the portfolio continues to expand and the proportion of younger, growth companies increases, the timing of distributions will be more closely linked to realisation activity, whilst also reflecting the requirement to maintain the VCT qualifying level. Increased Interim Dividend In line with the new policy and following the successful realisation of Horizon Ceremonies, an increased interim dividend of 2.75p per Ordinary Share, in respect of the year ending 31 December 2025, was paid on 29 August 2025 to Shareholders who were on the register at 25 July 2025. Since the Company's launch, and including this interim dividend, a total of 99.35p per Ordinary Share has been paid in tax free distributions. It should be noted that the payment of a dividend reduces the NAV of the Company by the total amount of the distribution. Dividend Investment Scheme (DIS) Your Company operates a DIS, through which Shareholders can, at any time, elect to have their dividend payments utilised to subscribe for new Ordinary Shares issued under the standing authority requested from Shareholders at Annual General Meetings. Ordinary Shares issued under the DIS are free from dealing costs and should benefit from the tax reliefs available on new Ordinary Shares issued by a VCT in the tax year in which they are allotted, subject to an individual Shareholder's particular circumstances. Shareholders can elect to participate in the DIS in respect of future dividends by completing a DIS mandate form and returning it to the Registrar (The City Partnership). The mandate form, terms & conditions and full details of the scheme (including tax considerations) are available from the Company's webpage at: mavencp.com/migvct4. Election to participate in the DIS can also be made through the Registrar's online investor hub at: maven-cp.cityhub.uk.com/login. If a Shareholder is in any doubt about the merits of participating in the DIS, or their own tax status, they should seek advice from a suitably qualified adviser. Offer for Subscription On 1 April 2025, your Company's most recent Offer for Subscription closed early, fully subscribed, having raised a total of £10 million, including the £5 million over-allotment facility, for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 tax years. All new Ordinary Shares in relation to this Offer have now been allotted, with four allotments completed for the 2024/25 tax year and one allotment for the 2025/26 tax year. This additional liquidity will facilitate the further expansion and development of the portfolio in line with the investment strategy. The funds raised will also allow your Company to maintain its share buy-back policy, whilst also spreading costs over a wider asset base, with the objective of maintaining a competitive ongoing charges ratio for the benefit of all Shareholders. As announced on 16 July 2025, the Directors have elected to launch a new Offer later this year, alongside Offers by the other Maven managed VCTs. Full details will be included in a Prospectus, which is expected to be published in early Autumn 2025. Portfolio Developments During the first half of the financial year, most of the companies in the private equity portfolio have continued to meet operational and financial targets, as set out in their business plans. It is pleasing to report that the valuations of certain private companies have been uplifted in line with the progress achieved. Since your Company first invested, carbon reduction software specialist Manufacture 2030 (M2030) has consistently delivered strong revenue growth, with ARR more than doubling in two years and projected to increase further throughout the current year. M2030 operates in a rapidly growing sector, where it provides a disruptive software solution that allows large corporates and multinationals to achieve Scope 3 carbon reduction targets by measuring, managing and reducing carbon emissions across their supply chain, with the objective of achieving the targets set out in the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. The business continues to expand its blue chip client base and has added six new large corporate customers to the platform so far this year. M2030 maintains a strong pipeline of opportunities and a near term objective is to expand its presence in North America, which is a key growth market. Contract software specialist Summize continues to deliver impressive growth and trade ahead of budget. In the past two years, the business has achieved over 100% growth in ARR and is on track to outperform its targets again this year. Summize has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) powered digital contracting software solution that simplifies and streamlines the process for writing and renewing contracts, helping to drive operational efficiencies for customers, and continues to see strong demand both in the UK and US. In Autumn 2023, the business opened its first international office in Boston to launch its US expansion strategy, and has subsequently experienced rapid growth in that market, with more than half of total sales now generated from US clients with significant future growth potential. In April 2025, Summize was awarded 5th place in the Top 100 League Table at the GP Bullhound 2025 Northern Tech Awards, whilst also winning the Judge's Innovation Award. The management team is highly ambitious and remain focused on growing the client base and increasing ARR, both in the UK and US. In the two years post investment, specialist training software provider Bud has made significant progress, growing its client base and has achieved a near doubling in both ARR and learner numbers. Bud's integrated platform provides an end-to-end solution for training providers, universities and colleges and employers delivering apprenticeships, covering enrolment, training delivery, learner management, and compliance through one portal. A core benefit of the solution is that it streamlines processes and reduces administrative tasks, whilst also ensuring ongoing compliance with specific funding requirements to minimise the risk of clawback. The business has a healthy pipeline of prospective opportunities and the outlook for the remainder of the year is encouraging, supported by the forthcoming changes to the Growth and Skills Levy, which were outlined in the Autumn 2024 Budget. Demand responsive transport software provider Liftango also continues to make encouraging progress and is expanding its market presence and global footprint, with live projects currently operating in six continents. The business provides the technology to support on-demand transport programmes, which enable users to plan, launch and scale shared mobility projects that reduce costs by optimising routes, whilst simultaneously addressing sustainability goals such as lower vehicle usage, which helps to decrease carbon emissions and combat localised congestion. Having achieved success in Australia and the UK, Liftango is now focused on expanding into international markets, with the Middle East and the Americas identified as key growth territories. The business works with many Fortune 500 companies, as well as large global bus operators and government transport agencies, and is well positioned to deliver further growth as it secures new contracts and expands its market position. Against a backdrop of ongoing geopolitical tension and with several recent high profile cyber attacks causing significant operational disruption to mainstream UK retailers, cyber security specialist CYSIAM continues to experience strong demand for its products and services as clients seek to bolster their cyber defences. The business continues to expand its Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service, which provides protection against, detection of and response to cyber attacks within a software as a service (SaaS) wrapper, with a valuable recurring revenue stream. In May 2025, CYSIAM was named European Rising Star Partner of the Year at the Crowdstrike Europe Partner Symposium. Crowdstrike are a NASDAQ listed global cyber security leader and this award recognises the contribution of its partners to help customers to prevent breaches and enhance cyber security. The cyber security market remains a high growth area and CYSIAM is well placed to continue to scale and achieve the financial and strategic objectives within the business plan. In November 2024, your Company invested in RiskSmart, an early stage regtech business operating in the risk management sector. The business has developed a risk management platform that leverages data insights and machine learning to provide real time information to help transform how businesses manage governance, risk and compliance. Since investment, RiskSmart has delivered strong growth in ARR and currently has over 60 clients, which is an increase of almost 100% over a 12 month period. RiskSmart has a strong pipeline of new opportunities and is on track to further increase ARR through the remainder of the current year. The business is run by an ambitious and experienced team and was recently named one of Prolific North's Tech Scale ups to Watch 2025, which spotlights the most dynamic, ambitious and high growth technology businesses across the North of England. As may be expected with a large portfolio of growth focused businesses, there are a small number of investee companies that have not achieved their commercial targets and are trading behind plan. In certain cases, valuations have been reduced to reflect the slower than anticipated progress, with provisions taken against the cost of a small number of specific holdings. In addition, the Manager elected not to provide further funding to Real World Health and the valuation was written down in full. The company entered administration in February 2025. As previously noted, this has been another challenging period for AIM, with investor appetite for smaller quoted equities remaining subdued. Low levels of liquidity have also resulted in high volatility with share prices responding disproportionately to limited news flow or trading activity. The Manager retains a highly selective approach to supporting new AIM investment opportunities and, during the period, only completed one small follow-on transaction. Treasury Management The Board and the Manager maintain a proactive approach to treasury management, where the objective remains to optimise the income generated from cash held prior to investment in VCT qualifying companies, whilst meeting the requirements of the Nature of Income condition. This is a mandatory part of the VCT legislation, which stipulates that not less than 70% of a VCT's income must be derived from shares or securities. Your Company has a diversified portfolio of treasury management investments with strong fundamentals and attractive income characteristics, comprising of money market funds (MMFs), open-ended investment companies (OEICs) and London Stock Exchange listed investment trusts, with the remaining cash held on deposit across several UK banks in order to minimise counterparty risk. This strategy ensures ongoing compliance with the Nature of Income condition, whilst also providing a healthy stream of income that currently generates a blended annualised yield of over 3% across the combined treasury management portfolio and uninvested cash. It is worthwhile highlighting that this is a dynamic portfolio, which will vary in size depending on your Company's rate of investment, realisations and overall liquidity levels. Full details of the treasury management holdings can be found in the Investment Portfolio Summary in the Interim Report. New Investments During the reporting period, four new private companies were added to the portfolio: • Blackdot Solutions is a developer of an advanced intelligence and investigations software solution that supports risk, compliance and client onboarding teams across a variety of industries, including Government, criminal law and financial services. Blackdot's propriety platform Videris aggregates and analyses open source intelligence (OSINT) from a wide range of public sources including the internet, social media and the dark web, alongside more conventional routes such as Moody's and Dun & Bradstreet. This capability provides clients with the most comprehensive and up to date information to identify threats, mitigate risks and ensure ongoing compliance with complex regulatory standards. The OSINT market is experiencing rapid growth and, as an early entrant, Blackdot is well positioned to capitalise on rising demand for advanced data analytics and risk management tools. The funding from the Maven VCTs is being used to increase headcount, with a focus on technical expertise, enhancing product development and driving growth in both new and existing markets. • Digilytics is a provider of an AI enabled solution that automates loan application processing. The platform uses machine learning and large language models to read and extract data from key documents such as payslips, bank statements and utility bills, ensuring both consistency and completeness. It then evaluates the application against eligibility criteria and affordability metrics, while also screening for potential fraud. Digilytics helps lenders to reduce costs and error rates, whilst improving the response time for applicants. The funding from the Maven VCTs is being used to support the sales and marketing function and invest in product development. The near term objective is to launch in the US, where there is an identified market opportunity. • Kani Payments is a developer of a SaaS based financial reporting and reconciliation platform, serving fintechs, challenger banks, and payment processors. As well as providing instant reconciliation of large data sets, Kani's solution facilitates the automation of transaction payments, regulatory and financial reporting, which remains a largely manual and spreadsheet based process, even for sizeable financial institutions. The business is led by an experienced team with a successful track record of scaling a similar cloud based payment processing business from startup through to profitable exit. The funding from the Maven VCTs is being used to accelerate product development, including adding new features that are due to launch later in 2025, make a number of strategic sales and marketing hires to widen the business's reach, and to support expansion into Europe and North America, where there is significant growth potential. • PowerPhotonic is an established designer and manufacturer of a wide range of precision micro-optics products for use within lasers. Using proprietary manufacturing processes and equipment the company designs and manufactures high quality wafer scale freeform optics with advanced properties that are designed for application in three core markets, the largest of which is the defence sector. The business is also expanding its presence in the life sciences sector, with applications in precision medical devices and instrumentation. It also has a presence in the advanced manufacturing sector where it focuses on beam shapers to make industrial processes more efficient. With strong levels of IP, PowerPhotonic has a defendable market position and the funding from the Maven VCTs is being used to support growth by facilitating the expansion of the sales and marketing team to help the business increase its revenue base, and extend its presence in the UK and US. The following investments were completed during the reporting period:
| Investments | Date | Sector | £'000 | |||
| New unlisted | ||||||
| Arimon Limited (trading as Digilytics)1 | March & June 2025 | Software & technology | 504 | |||
| Blackdot Solutions Limited | January 2025 | Software & technology | 995 | |||
| Kani Payments Holdings Limited | February 2025 | Software & technology | 348 | |||
| Kerrera TopCo Limited (trading as Kube Networks)2 | April 2025 | Software & technology | 129 | |||
| PowerPhotonic Limited | June 2025 | Software & technology | 325 | |||
| Total new unlisted 2,301 | ||||||
| Follow-on unlisted | ||||||
| Alderley Lighthouse Labs Limited | May 2025 | Pharmaceuticals, biotechnology & healthcare | 137 | |||
| AMufacture Limited | May 2025 | Industrials & engineering | 124 | |||
| DiffusionData Limited3 | February & March 2025 | Software & technology | 155 | |||
| Filtered Technologies Limited3 | February & May 2025 | Learning & development/ recruitment technology | 122 | |||
| Fixtuur Limited (formerly Shortbite Limited) | May 2025 | Software & technology | 200 | |||
| Laverock Therapeutics Limited | June 2025 | Pharmaceuticals, biotechnology & healthcare | 348 | |||
| Liftango Group Limited | February 2025 | Software & technology | 250 | |||
| mypura.com Group Limited (trading as Pura) | June 2025 | Business services | 105 | |||
| Nano Interactive Group Limited | January 2025 | Marketing & advertising technology | 102 | |||
| Plyable Limited | March 2025 | Software & technology | 130 | |||
| Relative Insight Limited | June 2025 | Marketing & advertising technology | 100 | |||
| RevLifter Limited | March 2025 | Marketing & advertising technology | 159 | |||
| Sensoteq Limited | March 2025 | Software & technology | 185 | |||
| The Algorithm People Limited (trading as Optimize) | April 2025 | Software & technology | 66 | |||
| XR Games Limited | February 2025 | Software & technology | 12 | |||
| Zinc Digital Business Solutions Limited | March 2025 | Software & technology | 162 | |||
| Total follow-on unlisted 2,357 | ||||||
| Total unlisted 4,658 | ||||||
| Follow-on AIM quoted | ||||||
| GENinCode PLC | March 2025 | Pharmaceuticals, biotechnology & healthcare | 126 | |||
| Total follow-on AIM quoted 126 | ||||||
| Total AIM quoted 126 | ||||||
| Infrastructure investment trust4 | ||||||
| Foresight Solar Fund Limited | May 2025 | Investment trust | 125 | |||
| Total infrastructure investment trust 125 | ||||||
| Real estate investment trusts4 | ||||||
| Land Securities Group PLC | May 2025 | Investment trust | 107 | |||
| Tritax BigBox REIT PLC | May 2025 | Investment trust | 152 | |||
| Total real estate investment trusts 259 | ||||||
| Money market funds4 | ||||||
| Aviva Investors Sterling Government Liquidity Fund (Class 3) | February 2025 | Money market fund | 1,000 | |||
| Aviva Investors Sterling Liquidity Fund (Class 3) | March 2025 | Money market fund | 1,000 | |||
| BlackRock Institutional Sterling Liquidity Fund (Core) | April 2025 | Money market fund | 1,000 | |||
| Fidelity Institutional Liquidity Sterling Fund (Class F) | May 2025 | Money market fund | 500 | |||
| Goldman Sachs Sterling Government Liquid Reserves Ireland (Institutional) | March 2025 | Money market fund | 1,000 | |||
| Total money market funds 4,500 | ||||||
| Total investments 9,668 | ||||||
| Realisations | Year first invested | Complete/ partial exit | Cost of shares disposed of £'000 | Value at 31 December 2024 £'000 | Sales proceeds £'000 | Realised gain/(loss) £'000 | Gain/(loss) over 31 December 2024 value £'000 |
| Unlisted | |||||||
| ISN Solutions Group Limited1 | 2014 | Complete | 467 | 143 | 129 | (338) | (14) |
| Total unlisted | 467 | 143 | 129 | (338) | (14) | ||
| AIM quoted | |||||||
| Intelligent Ultrasound Group PLC | 2020 | Complete | 400 | 476 | 495 | 95 | 19 |
| Others | 25 | 4 | 8 | (17) | 4 | ||
| Total AIM quoted | 425 | 480 | 503 | 78 | 23 | ||
| Infrastructure investment trust2 | |||||||
| BBGI Global Infrastructure SA | 2023 | Complete | 280 | 233 | 267 | (13) | 34 |
| Total infrastructure investment trust | 280 | 233 | 267 | (13) | 34 | ||
| Real estate investment trust2 | |||||||
| Care REIT PLC | 2023 | Complete | 236 | 196 | 260 | 24 | 64 |
| Total real estate investment trust | 236 | 196 | 260 | 24 | 64 | ||
| Money market funds2 | |||||||
| BlackRock Institutional Sterling Liquidity Fund (Core) | 2024 | Partial | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | - | - |
| Fidelity Institutional Liquidity Sterling Fund (Class F) | 2024 | Partial | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | - | - |
| Total money market funds | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | - | - | ||
| Total realisations completed during the period | 3,408 | 3,052 | 3,159 | (249) | 107 | ||
| Valuation 31 December 2024 | Net investment/ (disinvestment) £'000 | Appreciation/ (depreciation) £'000 | Valuation 30 June 2025 | |||
| £'000 | % | £'000 | % | |||
| Unlisted investments1 | ||||||
| Equities | 46,720 | 55.5 | 4,712 | (294) | 51,138 | 58.0 |
| Loan stock | 11,830 | 14.0 | 24 | (122) | 11,732 | 13.3 |
| 58,550 | 69.5 | 4,736 | (416) | 62,870 | 71.3 | |
| AIM Investments2 | ||||||
| Equities | 2,699 | 3.2 | (584) | (648) | 1,467 | 1.7 |
| Listed investments3 | ||||||
| Investment trusts | 5,882 | 7.0 | (143) | 32 | 5,771 | 6.5 |
| OEICs | 1,999 | 2.4 | - | 1 | 2,000 | 2.3 |
| MMFs | 5,000 | 5.9 | 2,500 | - | 7,500 | 8.5 |
| Total investments | 74,130 | 88.0 | 6,509 | (1,031) | 79,608 | 90.3 |
| Cash | 9,670 | 11.5 | (1,541) | - | 8,129 | 9.2 |
| Other net assets | 432 | 0.5 | (32) | - | 400 | 0.5 |
| Net assets | 84,232 | 100.0 | 4,936 | (1,031) | 88,137 | 100.0 |
| Investment | Valuation £'000 | Cost £'000 | % of total assets | % of equity held | % of equity held by other clients1 |
| Unlisted | |||||
| Horizon Ceremonies Limited (trading as Horizon Cremation) | 4,712 | 2,463 | 5.3 | 12.4 | 42.1 |
| BioAscent Discovery Limited | 4,338 | 1,532 | 4.9 | 26.1 | 13.9 |
| Rockar 2016 Limited (trading as Rockar) | 3,355 | 1,766 | 3.8 | 6.2 | 13.2 |
| Bright Network (UK) Limited | 2,709 | 1,706 | 3.1 | 9.8 | 29.3 |
| WaterBear Education Limited | 2,376 | 987 | 2.7 | 20.1 | 19.1 |
| Ensco 969 Limited (trading as DPP) | 2,147 | 1,532 | 2.4 | 7.4 | 27.1 |
| 2degrees Limited (trading as Manufacture 2030) | 2,024 | 922 | 2.3 | 5.0 | 32.7 |
| Summize Limited | 1,994 | 796 | 2.3 | 4.0 | 32.3 |
| HCS Control Systems Group Limited | 1,942 | 1,201 | 2.2 | 10.7 | 25.8 |
| Bud Systems Limited | 1,593 | 762 | 1.8 | 4.1 | 13.5 |
| Liftango Group Limited | 1,504 | 1,504 | 1.7 | 7.0 | 28.7 |
| Zinc Digital Business Solutions Limited | 1,462 | 1,029 | 1.7 | 16.4 | 32.4 |
| Vodat Communications Group (VCG) Holding Limited | 1,427 | 1,240 | 1.6 | 8.4 | 23.5 |
| Relative Insight Limited | 1,406 | 1,406 | 1.6 | 7.8 | 23.0 |
| RevLifter Limited | 1,159 | 1,159 | 1.3 | 16.3 | 21.8 |
| Hublsoft Group Limited | 1,138 | 922 | 1.3 | 7.3 | 16.4 |
| CYSIAM Limited | 1,095 | 448 | 1.2 | 5.8 | 22.0 |
| Martel Instruments Holdings Limited | 1,038 | 701 | 1.2 | 14.7 | 29.6 |
| mypura.com Group Limited (trading as Pura) | 1,023 | 621 | 1.2 | 2.3 | 22.4 |
| Whiterock Group Limited | 1,014 | 1,014 | 1.2 | 11.2 | 26.7 |
| Blackdot Solutions Limited | 995 | 995 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 9.2 |
| The Algorithm People Limited (trading as Optimize) | 961 | 486 | 1.1 | 5.7 | 9.5 |
| MirrorWeb Holdings LLC2 | 929 | 929 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 3.5 |
| ebb3 Limited | 927 | 1,307 | 1.1 | 22.1 | 48.4 |
| DiffusionData Limited | 919 | 780 | 1.0 | 4.1 | 17.3 |
| Biorelate Limited | 909 | 547 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 25.1 |
| Delio Limited | 903 | 1,294 | 1.0 | 5.2 | 10.0 |
| Plyable Limited | 826 | 826 | 0.9 | 11.8 | 47.3 |
| Nano Interactive Group Limited | 819 | 727 | 0.9 | 4.0 | 11.9 |
| RiskSmart Limited | 795 | 318 | 0.9 | 3.8 | 41.8 |
| Sensoteq Limited | 782 | 782 | 0.9 | 6.6 | 21.1 |
| Precursive Limited | 750 | 750 | 0.9 | 5.5 | 29.0 |
| Laverock Therapeutics Limited | 746 | 746 | 0.8 | 2.5 | 10.9 |
| Flow UK Holdings Limited | 735 | 1,047 | 0.8 | 12.7 | 22.3 |
| Growth Capital Ventures Limited | 650 | 639 | 0.7 | 11.5 | 36.0 |
| Novatus Global Limited3 | 627 | 134 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 3.4 |
| CODILINK UK Limited (trading as Coniq) | 600 | 400 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 3.8 |
| Metrion Biosciences Limited | 597 | 597 | 0.7 | 4.3 | 13.9 |
| Enpal Limited (trading as Guru Systems) | 581 | 581 | 0.7 | 3.2 | 18.4 |
| NorthRow Limited | 535 | 1,699 | 0.6 | 12.3 | 20.5 |
| Arimon Limited (trading as Digilytics) | 504 | 504 | 0.6 | 3.7 | 11.1 |
| iAM Compliant Limited | 492 | 298 | 0.6 | 3.9 | 45.3 |
| Automated Analytics Limited | 477 | 247 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 30.4 |
| Fixtuur Limited (formerly Shortbite Limited) | 470 | 1,198 | 0.5 | 8.1 | 49.3 |
| Horizon Technologies Consultants Limited | 466 | 448 | 0.5 | 3.1 | 14.1 |
| Boomerang Commerce Inc (trading as CommerceIQ)4 | 456 | 1,164 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Connected Data Company Limited | 423 | 423 | 0.5 | 3.9 | 11.8 |
| TC Communications Holdings Limited | 413 | 958 | 0.5 | 12.6 | 22.7 |
| McKenzie Intelligence Services Limited | 403 | 159 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 4.8 |
| Alderley Lighthouse Labs Limited | 386 | 386 | 0.4 | 8.0 | 56.1 |
| AMufacture Limited | 385 | 385 | 0.4 | 6.8 | 21.8 |
| Filtered Technologies Limited | 382 | 1,248 | 0.4 | 9.7 | 15.8 |
| Kani Payments Holdings Limited | 348 | 348 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 12.7 |
| HiveHR Limited | 346 | 346 | 0.4 | 4.4 | 40.2 |
| PowerPhotonic Limited | 325 | 325 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 19.0 |
| Cat Tech International Limited | 314 | 314 | 0.4 | - | - |
| Snappy Shopper Limited | 309 | 309 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.3 |
| Zing TopCo Limited (trading as Zing) | 185 | 185 | 0.2 | 4.9 | 42.8 |
| MaxCyte Inc5 | 183 | 207 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.0 |
| XR Games Limited | 167 | 355 | 0.2 | 5.2 | 55.8 |
| Reed Thermoformed Packaging Limited (trading as iPac Packaging Innovations) | 140 | 100 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 11.8 |
| Kerrera TopCo Limited (trading as Kube Networks Limited)6 | 129 | 129 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 39.6 |
| C4X Discovery Holdings PLC7 | 96 | 137 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Other unlisted investments | 29 | 4,175 | - | ||
| Total unlisted | 62,870 | 53,643 | 71.3 | ||
| AIM quoted8 | |||||
| Diaceutics PLC | 243 | 161 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 2.6 |
| SkinBio Therapeutics PLC | 211 | 208 | 0.2 | 0.6 | - |
| GENinCode PLC | 208 | 886 | 0.2 | 3.6 | 9.4 |
| KRM22 PLC | 145 | 220 | 0.2 | 1.2 | - |
| Oxford Metrics PLC | 117 | 80 | 0.1 | 0.2 | - |
| One Media IP Group PLC | 93 | 186 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 7.4 |
| Eden Research PLC | 90 | 160 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 4.0 |
| Cambridge Cognition Holdings PLC | 48 | 62 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 3.5 |
| Kanabo Group PLC9 | 47 | 2,986 | 0.1 | 3.7 | 6.3 |
| Creo Medical Group PLC | 36 | 497 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Vianet Group PLC | 35 | 49 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.3 |
| TPXimpact Holdings PLC | 31 | 107 | 0.1 | 0.2 | - |
| Avacta Group PLC | 30 | 16 | - | - | - |
| Spectral AI Inc | 29 | 99 | - | - | - |
| Pulsar Group PLC | 26 | 35 | - | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Hardide PLC | 16 | 122 | - | 0.2 | 5.6 |
| Verici Dx PLC | 14 | 271 | - | 0.5 | 4.9 |
| ReNeuron Group PLC | 13 | 277 | - | 0.7 | 1.4 |
| Angle PLC | 10 | 82 | - | - | - |
| Other quoted investments | 25 | 1,191 | - | ||
| Total AIM quoted | 1,467 | 7,965 | 1.7 | ||
| Private equity investment trusts10 | |||||
| HgCapital Trust PLC | 1,079 | 530 | 1.2 | - | 0.1 |
| ICG Enterprise Trust PLC | 547 | 381 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Patria Private Equity Trust PLC | 537 | 367 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| CT Private Equity Trust PLC | 401 | 293 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Partners Group Private Equity Limited (formerly Princess Private Equity Holding Limited) | 323 | 336 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| NB Private Equity Partners Limited | 320 | 371 | 0.4 | - | 0.2 |
| Apax Global Alpha Limited | 291 | 344 | 0.3 | - | 0.1 |
| HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited | 271 | 153 | 0.3 | - | - |
| Pantheon International PLC | 148 | 99 | 0.1 | - | 0.1 |
| Total private equity investment trusts | 3,917 | 2,874 | 4.4 | ||
| Infrastructure investment trusts10 | |||||
| Pantheon Infrastructure PLC | 284 | 250 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| 3i Infrastructure PLC | 273 | 260 | 0.3 | - | - |
| International Public Partnerships Limited | 223 | 270 | 0.3 | - | - |
| Foresight Environmental Infrastructure Limited (formerly JLEN Environmental Assets Group Limited) | 172 | 260 | 0.2 | - | 0.1 |
| Foresight Solar Fund Limited | 123 | 125 | 0.1 | - | 0.1 |
| Total infrastructure investment trusts | 1,075 | 1,165 | 1.2 | ||
| Fixed income investment trusts10 | |||||
| TwentyFour Select Monthly Income Fund Limited | 180 | 196 | 0.2 | 0.1 | - |
| Total fixed income investment trust | 180 | 196 | 0.2 | ||
| Global equity investment trusts10 | |||||
| Alliance Witan PLC (formerly Alliance Trust PLC) | 183 | 149 | 0.2 | - | - |
| JPMorgan Global Growth & Income PLC | 149 | 125 | 0.2 | - | - |
| Total global equity investment trusts | 332 | 274 | 0.4 | ||
| Real estate investment trusts10 | |||||
| Tritax BigBox REIT PLC | 156 | 153 | 0.2 | - | - |
| Land Securities Group PLC | 111 | 107 | 0.1 | - | - |
| Total real estate investment trusts | 267 | 260 | 0.3 | ||
| Open-ended investment companies10 | |||||
| Royal London Short Term Money Market Fund (Class Y Income) | 1,004 | 1,026 | 1.2 | - | - |
| Royal London Short Term Fixed Income Fund (Class Y Income) | 996 | 1,000 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Total open-ended investment companies | 2,000 | 2,026 | 2.3 | ||
| Money market funds10 | |||||
| abrdn Liquidity Fund (Lux) - Sterling Fund K-1 Inc GBP | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1.2 | - | - |
| Aviva Investors Sterling Government Liquidity Fund (Class 3) | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1.2 | - | - |
| Aviva Investors Sterling Liquidity Fund (Class 3) | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1.1 | - | - |
| BlackRock Institutional Sterling Government Liquidity Fund (Core Dis) | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1.1 | - | - |
| BlackRock Institutional Sterling Liquidity Fund (Core) | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1.1 | - | - |
| Goldman Sachs Sterling Government Liquid Reserves Ireland (Institutional) | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.9 |
| HSBC Sterling Liquidity Fund (Class A) | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1.1 | - | - |
| Fidelity Institutional Liquidity Sterling Fund (Class F) | 500 | 500 | 0.6 | - | 0.2 |
| Total money market funds | 7,500 | 7,500 | 8.5 | ||
| Total investments | 79,608 | 75,633 | 90.3 | ||
| Six months ended 30 June 2025 (unaudited) | Six months ended 30 June 2024 (unaudited) | Year ended 31 December 2024 (audited) | |||||||
| Revenue £'000 | Capital £'000 | Total £'000 | Revenue £'000 | Capital £'000 | Total £'000 | Revenue £'000 | Capital £'000 | Total £'000 | |
| (Loss)/gain on investments | - | (1,031) | (1,031) | - | 3,630 | 3,630 | - | 3,107 | 3,107 |
| Income from investments | 672 | - | 672 | 792 | - | 792 | 1,522 | - | 1,522 |
| Other income | 135 | - | 135 | 87 | - | 87 | 227 | - | 227 |
| Investment management fees | (215) | (860) | (1,075) | (212) | (850) | (1,062) | (437) | (1,746) | (2,183) |
| Other expenses | (244) | - | (244) | (222) | - | (222) | (438) | - | (438) |
| Net return on ordinary activities before taxation | 348 | (1,891) | (1,543) | 445 | 2,780 | 3,225 | 874 | 1,361 | 2,235 |
| Tax on ordinary activities | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Return attributable to Equity Shareholders | 348 | (1,891) | (1,543) | 445 | 2,780 | 3,225 | 874 | 1,361 | 2,235 |
| Earnings per share (pence) | 0.23 | (1.25) | (1.02) | 0.32 | 1.97 | 2.29 | 0.62 | 0.96 | 1.58 |
| Six months ended 30 June 2025 (unaudited) | Non-distributable reserves | Distributable reserves | ||||||||
| Share capital £'000 | Share premium account £'000 | Capital redemption reserve £'000 | Capital reserve unrealised £'000 | Capital reserve realised £'000 | Special distributable reserve £'000 | Revenue reserve £'000 | Total £'000 | |||
| At 31 December 2024 | 14,161 | 48,455 | 1,634 | 8,239 | 8,192 | 1,799 | 1,752 | 84,232 | ||
| Net return | - | - | - | (782) | (249) | (860) | 348 | (1,543) | ||
| Dividends paid | - | - | - | - | - | (2,325) | (387) | (2,712) | ||
| Repurchase and cancellation of shares | (325) | - | 325 | - | - | (1,824) | - | (1,824) | ||
| Net proceeds of share issue | 1,656 | 8,090 | - | - | - | - | - | 9,746 | ||
| Net proceeds of DIS issue* | 45 | 193 | - | - | - | - | - | 238 | ||
| Transfer between distributable reserves | - | - | - | - | (5,000) | 5,000 | - | - | ||
| At 30 June 2025 | 15,537 | 56,738 | 1,959 | 7,457 | 2,943 | 1,790 | 1,713 | 88,137 | ||
| Non-distributable reserves | Distributable reserves | |||||||
| Six months ended 30 June 2024 (unaudited) | Share capital £'000 | Share premium account £'000 | Capital redemption reserve £'000 | Capital reserve unrealised £'000 | Capital reserve realised £'000 | Special distributable reserve £'000 | Revenue reserve £'000 | Total £'000 |
| At 31 December 2023 | 13,596 | 43,470 | 1,196 | 9,150 | 4,174 | 10,883 | 1,448 | 83,917 |
| Net return | - | - | - | 2,739 | 891 | (850) | 445 | 3,225 |
| Dividends paid | - | - | - | - | - | (2,295) | (215) | (2,510) |
| Repurchase and cancellation of shares | (221) | - | 221 | - | - | (1,285) | - | (1,285) |
| Net proceeds of share issue | 916 | 4,657 | - | - | - | - | - | 5,573 |
| Net proceeds of DIS issue* | 42 | 188 | - | - | - | - | - | 230 |
| At 30 June 2024 | 14,333 | 48,315 | 1,417 | 11,889 | 5,065 | 6,453 | 1,678 | 89,150 |
| Non-distributable reserves | Distributable reserves | |||||||
| Year ended 31 December 2024 (audited) | Share capital £'000 | Share premium account £'000 | Capital redemption reserve £'000 | Capital reserve unrealised £'000 | Capital reserve realised £'000 | Special distributable reserve £'000 | Revenue reserve £'000 | Total £'000 |
| At 31 December 2023 | 13,596 | 43,470 | 1,196 | 9,150 | 4,174 | 10,883 | 1,448 | 83,917 |
| Net return | - | - | - | (911) | 4,018 | (1,746) | 874 | 2,235 |
| Dividends paid | - | - | - | - | - | (4,782) | (570) | (5,352) |
| Repurchase and cancellation of shares | (438) | - | 438 | - | - | (2,556) | - | (2,556) |
| Net proceeds of share issue | 916 | 4,589 | - | - | - | - | - | 5,505 |
| Net proceeds of DIS issue* | 87 | 396 | - | - | - | - | - | 483 |
| At 31 December 2024 | 14,161 | 48,455 | 1,634 | 8,239 | 8,192 | 1,799 | 1,752 | 84,232 |
| 30 June 2025 (unaudited) £'000 | 30 June 2024 (unaudited) £'000 | 31 December 2024 (audited) £'000 | |
| Fixed assets | |||
| Investments at fair value through profit or loss | 79,608 | 82,736 | 74,130 |
| Current assets | |||
| Debtors | 798 | 1,486 | 763 |
| Cash | 8,129 | 5,243 | 9,670 |
| 8,927 | 6,729 | 10,433 | |
| Creditors | |||
| Amounts falling due within one year | (398) | (315) | (331) |
| Net current assets | 8,529 | 6,414 | 10,102 |
| Net assets | 88,137 | 89,150 | 84,232 |
| Capital and reserves | |||
| Called up share capital | 15,537 | 14,333 | 14,161 |
| Share premium account | 56,738 | 48,315 | 48,455 |
| Capital redemption reserve | 1,959 | 1,417 | 1,634 |
| Capital reserve - unrealised | 7,457 | 11,889 | 8,239 |
| Capital reserve - realised | 2,943 | 5,065 | 8,192 |
| Special distributable reserve | 1,790 | 6,453 | 1,799 |
| Revenue reserve | 1,713 | 1,678 | 1,752 |
| Net assets attributable to Ordinary Shareholders | 88,137 | 89,150 | 84,232 |
| Net asset value per Ordinary Share (pence) | 56.72 | 62.19 | 59.47 |
| Six months ended 30 June 2025 (unaudited) £'000 | Six months ended 30 June 2024 (unaudited) £'000 | Year ended 31 December 2024 (audited) £'000 | |
| Net cash flows from operating activities | (604) | (612) | (597) |
| Cash flows from investing activities | |||
| Purchase of investments | (9,668) | (7,567) | (13,830) |
| Sale of investments | 3,201 | 5,861 | 20,432 |
| Net cash flows from investing activities | (6,467) | (1,706) | 6,602 |
| Cash flows from financing activities | |||
| Equity dividends paid | (2,712) | (2,510) | (5,352) |
| Net proceeds of DIS issue | 9,828 | 234 | 5,615 |
| Issue of Ordinary Shares | 238 | 5,664 | 500 |
| Repurchase of Ordinary Shares | (1,824) | (1,285) | (2,556) |
| Net cash flows from financing activities | 5,530 | 2,103 | (1,793) |
| Net (decrease)/increase in cash | (1,541) | (215) | 4,212 |
| Cash at beginning of period | 9,670 | 5,458 | 5,458 |
| Cash at end of period | 8,129 | 5,243 | 9,670 |
| Six months ended 30 June 2025 | |
| The returns per share have been based on the following figures: Weighted average number of Ordinary Shares Revenue return Capital return | 150,897,274 £348,000 (£1,891,000) |
| Total return | (£1,543,000) |