CT Private Equity Trust PLC

Quarterly results for the three months ended 30 September 2025 (unaudited)

·      Richard Gray, Chairman, to retire at the conclusion of the Company's Annual General Meeting in May 2026.  Upon his retirement, Tom Burnet will be appointed Chairman. 

·      Net asset value of 694.88 pence per share as at 30 September 2025.

·      A net asset value total return for the three-month period of +4.1%.

·      Quarterly dividend of 7.01 pence per Ordinary Share payable on 30 January 2026 to Shareholders on the register on 5 January 2026 with an ex-date of 2 January 2026.

·      Dividend yield of 6.0% based on the period end share price. ∞

∞ Calculated as dividends of 7.01p paid on 30 April 2025, 7.01p paid on 31 July 2025, 7.01p paid on 31 October 2025 and 7.01p payable on 30 January 2026, divided by the Company's share price of 468p as at 30 September 2025.

Chairman's Statement

Introduction

This report is for the three-month period ended 30 September 2025. As at 30 September 2025, the net assets of the Company were £496.9m, giving a Net Asset Value ('NAV') per share of 694.88p. Taking into account the dividend of 7.01p paid on 31 July 2025, this gives a NAV total return of +4.1% for the third quarter. The NAV total return for the first nine months of the year is +1.5%.

During the three-month period the Company made new investments, either through funds or as co-investments, totalling £11.3m. Realisations and associated income totalled £30.8m. Outstanding undrawn commitments at the period-end were £167.8m of which £30.5m was to funds where the investment period had expired.

A dividend of 7.01p was paid on 31 October and in accordance with the Company's dividend policy the next dividend will be 7.01p, which will be paid on 30 January 2026 to shareholders of the register on 5 January 2026, with an ex-dividend date of 2 January 2026.

Financing

The Company's borrowing facility is composed of a €60m term loan with RBSI and a £95 million revolving credit line with RBSI and State Street. The term of the facility is due to expire in February 2027.

The Company had net debt at 30 September 2025 of £91.0m (30 June 2025: £100.2m). This represents gearing of 15.5% (30 June 2025: 17.2%). The Company retains approximately £56m of headroom in its borrowing facility. The current debt level is eminently manageable and is expected to reduce as exit activity recovers.

Directorate Change

As part of the Board succession's plan, and in accordance with corporate governance best practice, I announce that I will retire as Chairman at the completion of the Company's 2026 Annual General Meeting ("AGM").

I joined the Board in March 2017 and was appointed Chairman in May 2022.  My nine-year tenure on the Board has witnessed major geo-political events: the COVID-19 pandemic; the Russian invasion of Ukraine; and a period of higher inflation resulting in increased interest rates in many economies including the United Kingdom. I wish to express my sincere thanks to my fellow Directors, the Columbia Threadneedle Private Equity team and the Company's advisers for their support in navigating successfully these challenges.

Upon my retirement, Tom Burnet will be appointed Chairman of the Company.

Tom, who was appointed to the Board in June 2020 is Non-Executive Chairman of Aker Systems Ltd, and The Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust plc. Previously he served as CEO, Executive Chairman and as a Non-Executive Director of AIM listed company accesso Technology Group plc, and Non-Executive Chairman of Simply Conveyancing, Reward Gateway, Flooid, Trading Apps Ltd, and Kainos plc. He started his career as an Army Officer serving in the Black Watch (R.H.R.) and is a member of the King's Bodyguard in Scotland.

It is anticipated that the Company's AGM will be held in May 2026.

Outlook

Your Company has a broad portfolio of lower mid-market private companies covering many sectors, economic trends and geographies. There is always activity in the portfolio and during this latest quarter we have seen clear signs of an improvement in confidence with a noticeable increase in realisations. The underlying companies continue to grow revenues and profits at an impressive rate and experience suggests that this will in due course be reflected in the overall valuation whether through exits achieved  or uplifts in valuations at future quarter or year ends. As we approach the end of 2025 there is a  genuine prospect of further near-term value growth for shareholders.

Richard Gray

Chairman

Manager's Review

Introduction

As at 30 September 2025, the net assets of the Company were £496.9m, giving a Net Asset Value ('NAV') per share of 694.88p. Taking into account the dividend of 7.01p paid on 31 July 2025, this gives a NAV total return of +4.1% for the third quarter. The NAV total return for the first nine months of the year is +1.5%.

The share price total return over the quarter was +0.2% and over the first nine months was +0.3%.

As at 30 September, the Company had net debt of £91.0m, representing gearing of 15.5%. The outstanding undrawn commitments are £167.8m, of which £30.5m relates to funds where the investment period has expired.

New Investments

There were no new fund commitments or co-investments made in the quarter.

The funds in our portfolio made a number of drawdowns for new investments and follow-ons. The total drawn in the quarter was £11.3m. This gives a total for the first nine months of £42.4m, which compares with £45.2m at the same point last year.

The number of new investments was lower than in recent quarters, but the diverse nature of the investments remains.

£1.7m was called by Queka II, the Iberian mid-market fund to which we recently made a commitment. The fund already has three investments which cover different sectors; LipoTrue (manufacturer of active ingredients for the cosmetics industry), Juan Navarro (producer of paprika and other spices) and B2cloud (cloud, cybersecurity and telecoms for SMEs). FPE Fund III called £1.3m to repay a subscription line with which it had made investments. The fund now has eight investee companies. MED Platform II called £0.8m mainly for ZimVie, a take-private of a US NASDAQ listed company which makes dental implants, surgical tools and biologics. Kester Capital Fund III called £0.6m for Evestia, a contract research organisation that provides clinical trials for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Lastly DBAG Fund VIII called £0.6m for Great Lengths, a provider of natural hair extensions.

Realisations

The total of realisations and associated income in the third quarter was £30.8m, this is almost double the amount in Q2 and brings the total for the first nine months to £57.9m. This compares with £94.5m at this point last year and £108.6m for the whole of 2024. There has been a continued recovery in realisation activity, but private equity market participants remain cautious.

Our co-investment portfolio has produced some good exits. £8.2m was received from Amethyst Radiotherapy, which was sold by The Rohatyn Group to Fremman Capital returning 1.8x cost and an IRR of 11%.  Our remaining position in Dotmatics, the software company used by scientists and pharmaceutical companies, was fully realised by SEP returning £4.7m from the co-investments (plus a further £0.5m from SEP V). This completes a hugely successful co-investment which achieved a total net return of 8.3x cost and 79% IRR, returning total proceeds of £35.3m.

There were several realisations from the funds portfolio.

Our recent investment in software fund Axiom achieved a remarkable partial exit of JobLogic (field service management software) through a sale of 51% to Vista Equity Partners. This returned £5.4m, representing 5.0x cost and 97% IRR. Our two holdings in Inflexion's Buyout Fund V and Supplemental Fund V returned £2.6m from the exits of Blue Light Card (discount card for healthcare, emergency and armed services personnel) and Medik8 (premium ethical skincare brand). The returns from each were typically impressive . SEP Fund V returned £2.1m from the exit of regulatory software company FundApps achieving 2.9x cost and 29% IRR. MED II, the healthcare focussed fund, returned £1.4m mainly from the sale of Diesse and its residual position in Ad-Tech. Diesse, producer of in-vitro diagnostics systems, returned 3.8x cost and 24% IRR. US manufacturer of intracranial neuro electrodes, Ad-Tech, generated a final return of 4.9x cost and 43% IRR. Piper Private Equity, our long-standing investment partner in consumer-oriented businesses, exited affordable steak restaurant chain Flat Iron returning £1.4m, representing 3.4x cost and 16% IRR. Lastly in the US, Blue Point Capital Fund IV exited global strategy consultant Stax returning £1.3m, 2.6x cost and 28% IRR.

At the time of writing, the Company has recorded 38 underlying portfolio realisations year to date compared to 53 company exits in the whole of last year. The average uplift on exit and the weighted average uplift were 11% and 20% respectively. Notably, this is below the five-year averages of 28% and 47% respectively, reflecting the more challenging exit environment in 2025. 74% of exits by value were to private equity - 40% to external sponsors and 34% to continuation vehicles ("CVs"). The remaining 26% of exits were to trade buyers. The proportion of exits to private equity is higher than the long-term average of 62% of exit value. This is in part due to the growth of CVs from 13% of exits by value in 2023 to 5% in 2024 and 34% in 2025. In 2025, the average return of exited investments was 2.7x cost, which is below the long-term average of 3.5x cost.

Valuation Changes

There were several valuation changes this quarter. Most of the valuations, 83%, are based on 30 June valuations, as many of the September marks were not available at the time of writing.

A number of notable uplifts came from the co-investments.

CARDO Group, the Buckthorn-led social housing maintenance company, was up by £8.5m, reflecting the company's exceptional growth in profitability in recent years which has been aided by a number of judicious and attractively priced acquisitions. Axiom I, the UK lower mid-market software buyout fund, was up by £4.0m due to the partial exit of JobLogic noted above. Weird Fish, the casual clothing company, was up by £2.4m due to strong trading and reflecting the terms of the continuation vehicle and refinancing which took place after the quarter-end. Unmanned aerial vehicle inspection and software company Cyberhawk has been trading well and is up by £2.3m. Prollenium, the aesthetic medicine company, is also trading well and is up by £2.0m.

There have been a number of downgrades as well. These reflect a combination of company-specific issues and the still challenging overall economic environment which makes growth harder to implement.

Breeze Group, the cleanroom and laboratory equipment manufacturer servicing the scientific sector, has traded below expectations and is down by £4.5m. The principal cause of this is a very weak market for its US subsidiary, Biospherix, which has suffered acutely from the lack of federal funding to universities and laboratories, exacerbated by the recent federal shutdown.

TWMA, the drilling waste management company for the oil and gas industry, has faced a difficult background with business from the North Sea dropping significantly and being replaced by Middle East-based activity. This has been disruptive and has necessitated a move of much of the company's activities to the UAE. This year's revenues and EBITDA are down slightly and a downgrade of £3.5m has been taken this quarter, largely reflecting a lower valuation multiple. Longer term there is a good prospect of stabilisation and recovery.

Accuvein, the MVM led vein visualisation company, which uses a novel infrared technology, has struggled in a deteriorating market and is down by £1.4m.

Financing

The Company's debt has reduced somewhat over the quarter and stands at £91.0m. The excess of realisations over drawdowns and follow-on investments has helped with this and if the current observable pick-up in exit activity persists the balance sheet will continue to de-gear noticeably. At this level of gearing, growth in the portfolio valuation should translate into enhanced gains in NAV and the Company has substantial headroom in its borrowing facility.

Outlook

We have confidence in the medium term outlook for our portfolio. This is based on the fundamentals of the investee companies. Looking at all the companies in our portfolio, the weighted average growth in revenue and EBITDA for the twelve months to 30 June 2025 was 22.9% and 22.5% respectively. For our co-investment portfolio, which accounts for just under 40% of the portfolio by value, the comparable figures are 15.8% and 26.8%. For all companies and co-investments, there has been a noticeable quarter-on-quarter acceleration in EBITDA growth.

In addition to the underlying company fundamentals, the health of the international economy has a direct bearing on M&A activity levels in private equity portfolios. The key factor is the degree of confidence felt by decision-makers in companies and private equity funds. The cost of debt finance and the availability of equity are also important. Uncertainty created by changes in economic policy or geopolitical events combines with these other factors to reduce or slow down deal activity. This year has seen a combination of these factors in play leading to a period of adjustment with lower deal volumes and, to some extent, prices. The most recent indications from our investment partners and our investee companies are that confidence is improving  and we expect that this will prove to be a positive influence as we approach the end of 2025 and enter 2026.

We have also seen renewed focus on the lower mid-market buyout sector by a number of large investors and increased interest in Europe. The Company's portfolio which covers the lower mid-market across Europe and further afield is well placed to benefit.

Hamish Mair

Investment Manager

Columbia Threadneedle Investment Business Limited

Portfolio Summary

Portfolio Holdings

CT PRIVATE EQUITY TRUST PLC

Statement of Comprehensive Income for the

nine months ended 30 September 2025 (unaudited)

CT PRIVATE EQUITY TRUST PLC

Statement of Comprehensive Income for the

nine months ended 30 September 2024 (unaudited)

CT PRIVATE EQUITY TRUST PLC

Statement of Comprehensive Income for the

year ended 31 December 2024 (audited)

CT PRIVATE EQUITY TRUST PLC

Balance Sheet

CT PRIVATE EQUITY TRUST PLC

Reconciliation of Movements in Shareholders' Funds

Notes (unaudited)

1.     The unaudited quarterly results have been prepared on the basis of the accounting policies set out in the statutory accounts of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2024.  Earnings for the nine months to 30 September 2025 should not be taken as a guide to the results for the year to 31 December 2025.

2.     Investment management fee:

3.     Finance costs:

4.     Returns and net asset values

5.     The financial information for the nine months ended 30 September 2025, which has not been audited or reviewed by the Company's auditor, comprises non-statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 434 of the Companies Act 2006.  Statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024, on which the auditor issued an unqualified report, have been lodged with the Registrar of Companies.  The quarterly report will be available shortly on the Company's website www.ctprivateequitytrust.com

Legal Entity Identifier: 2138009FW98WZFCGRN66

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