11 FEBRUARY 2022

 

NORTHERN 2 VCT PLC

 

UNAUDITED NET ASSET VALUE AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2021

 

Northern 2 VCT PLC (“the Company”) is a Venture Capital Trust (“VCT”) launched in 1999 and managed by Mercia Fund Management Limited. The Company’s objective is to provide high long-term tax-free returns to investors through a combination of dividend yield and capital growth, by investing in a portfolio of investments mainly comprising unquoted venture capital holdings. In order to maintain approval by HM Revenue & Customs as a VCT, the Company is required to comply on a continuing basis with the provisions of Section 274 of the Income Tax Act 2007.

 

The unaudited net asset value per ordinary share as at 31 December 2021 was 69.6 pence (30 September 2021 (unaudited) 69.2 pence).

 

For the purposes of calculating the net asset value per share, quoted investments are carried at bid price as at 31 December 2021 and unquoted investments are carried at fair value as at 31 December 2021 as determined by the directors.

 

The net asset value is stated before deducting the interim dividend of 2.0 pence per share in respect of the year ending 31 March 2022, which was paid to eligible shareholders on 28 January 2022.

 

 

New Investments:

During the three months ended 31 December 2021 six new venture capital investments were completed.

 

Name of company	Business activity	Amount invested £000
Forensic Analytics	Call data communications analytics software for police forces	878
Pimberley	Product Information Management Software	918
Project Glow Topco (t/a Currentbody.com)	Online retailer for home-use beauty devices	1,544
Broker Insights	Platform connecting insurers and brokers	1,318
Intechnica Group	Technology consultancy, cyber security and website load management	1,608
Synthesized	Data product enterprise software	482

 

In addition to the new investments above £776,000 was invested in four existing portfolio companies during the quarter. The £1,544,000 investment in Project Glow Topco was funded using a portion of the £5,427,000 disposal proceeds received from the Currentbody.com realisation outlined below.

 

 

 

Realisations:

During the three months ended 31 December 2021 four venture capital investments were realised.

 

Name of company	Sale proceeds	Original cost	Carrying value at 30 September 2021
	£000	£000	£000
Intelling Group	3,277	1,142	3,272
Currentbody.com	5,427*	1,867	5,325
Life’s Great Group (t/a Mojo Mortgages)	2,244	1,441	2,231
Vectura Group	769	272	767

*Includes payment of £278,000 of accrued interest from loan notes

 

The number of ordinary shares in issue at 31 December 2021 was 162,482,051. During the three months ended 31 December 2021 no shares were allotted and 511,920 shares were re-purchased for cancellation at an average price of 65.7 pence per share.

 

Enquiries:

James Sly / Graham Venables, Mercia Fund Management Ltd

Martin Glanfield, Chief Financial Officer, Mercia Asset Management PLC

Phone:                0330 223 1430

Website:        www.mercia.co.uk

 

Neither the contents of the Mercia Asset Management PLC website, nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Mercia Asset Management PLC website (or any other website), are incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.