I am pleased to present to shareholders the Annual Report of the Company for the year ended 30 September 2017. Overview This has been another year of solid performance by the Company. Returns to shareholders have again been positive, due to a profitable portfolio company exit as well as a good income return. Further comment can be found under the 'Performance' section of my Statement below and in the Investment's Adviser's Review. The Company and the Investment Adviser have responded well to the VCT Rules introduced by the Finance (No 2) Act 2015, having completed nine growth capital investments since the change in the Company's investment policy in February 2016. The Investment Adviser has continued to recruit experienced growth capital investors into its team and a healthy pipeline of investment opportunities is being evaluated. Most recently, additional changes to VCT legislation have been proposed in the Autumn Budget. Your Board's opinion of the likely impact of these changes can be found under the 'Industry and Regulatory Changes' section of my statement below. Fundraising Shareholders should be aware that, on 6 September 2017, the Company launched an Offer for Subscription to raise up to £15 million, with an over-allotment facility to raise up to an additional £10 million. I am pleased to report that demand for the Offer has been strong from both new and existing shareholders. To accommodate investor demand, the Board took the decision to utilize its over-allotment facility on 23 October 2017. To date, applications amount to £16.3 million have been received. 19,072,153 shares have been allotted to date at offer prices ranging from 81.21 to 87.36 pence per share, dependent upon the prevailing net asset value at the date of each allotment and the method by which each investor subscribed for the Offer. The Offer will close when fully subscribed, or on 4 April 2018, whichever is the sooner. Performance The Company's NAV total return per share was 4.8% for the year ended 30 September 2017 (2016: 3.9%), after taking into account the dividends paid during the year. This NAV return for the year was primarily attributable to the sale of the Company's investment in Entanet Holdings Limited and another year of good revenue returns, arising principally from income from loan stock investments. As a result of this year's performance, the cumulative NAV total return per share (being the closing net asset value plus total dividends paid to date since launch) increased during the year by 2.6% (2016: 2.4%) from 179.01 pence to 183.74 pence. Using the benchmark of NAV cumulative total return, it is pleasing to report strong relative performance over the long-term as well as in recent years, as compared with the Company's peers. The VCT was ranked in the second quartile over five years and in the top quartile over ten years amongst generalist (including planned exit) VCTs used by the Association of Investment Companies ('AIC') to measure performance at 31 October 2017. Further details are included in the Strategic Report contained in the Annual Report. Final dividend Your Board is proposing a final dividend in respect of the year ending 30 September 2017 of 3.00 (2016: 4.00) pence per share. The dividend, comprising 2.50 pence from capital and 0.50 pence from income, will be proposed to shareholders at the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held on 7 February 2018, to shareholders on the register on 12 January 2018, for payment on 15 February 2018. This final dividend is in addition to the special dividend of 15.00 pence paid on 31 August 2017 and the interim dividend of 3.00 pence paid on 20 June 2017. If approved by shareholders, this forthcoming final dividend will bring dividends paid per share in respect of the year ended 30 September 2017 to 21.00 pence (2016: 10.00 pence) and the Company will have paid dividends totalling 71.00 pence per share in respect of the last five years. Shareholders should note, however, as a result of the changes in the VCT Rules and the Company's Investment Policy, that the Company may find it a challenge to generate a similar level of dividends over the next five years. Your Board will continue to monitor whether the current annual dividend target of 6.00 pence per share remains sustainable in the current investment environment. The Company's Dividend Investment Scheme ("the Scheme") will apply to this dividend and new elections under the Scheme should be received by the Scheme administrator, Link Asset Services, by no later than Wednesday, 31 January 2018. For further details of the Scheme, please see the Shareholder Information section of the Annual Report. Investment portfolio For the year under review, the portfolio as a whole achieved a net increase of £3.88 million on investment realised, but a decrease of £0.79 million on investments still held. Investment realisations produced £3.81 million in capital gains in excess of original investment cost. The portfolio still under management was valued at £48.03 million (2016: £54.36 million) at the year-end, representing 94.8% of cost. This position is mainly due to a former Investment Adviser's investments which have been written down below cost. Despite the apparent fall in value, on a like for like basis (adding back realisations and excluding new investments) the portfolio produced a positive return of 5.7% over the year. During the year £8.07 million (including £2.76 million previously held in companies preparing to trade) was invested in six new companies and two existing portfolio companies. Six new growth capital investments totalling £6.98 million were made during the financial year. These investments were in: BookingTek, a provider of enterprise software to major hotel groups (plus a small follow on investment); Biosite, a biometric security access control developer; Tapas Revolution, a leading Spanish restaurant chain; Buster & Punch, a London based interiors retailer; MyTutorweb, an online tutoring business; and Wetsuit Outlet, a leading online retailer in the water sports market. In addition, two follow-on investments were made: £0.94 million into Preservica, a developer of digital archiving software; and £0.15 million into Mpb, an online marketplace for used camera and video equipment. Cash proceeds totalling £14.73 million were received from 14 companies that were either sold or which repaid loans. Of this total, £7.17 million was received cash proceeds from the substantial disposal of Entanet Holdings Limited (realising a gain of 5.48 pence per share) with a further £6.73 million being received as loan repayments and finally, £0.83 million as other receipts. Full details of the investment activity during the year and a summary of the performance highlights can be found in the Investment Adviser's Review in the Annual Report. Industry and regulatory developments As mentioned in my overview, the UK Government has undertaken a Patient Capital Review to identify and tackle factors considered to be adversely affecting the supply of longer term capital to small and developing firms. The consultation period closed on 22 September 2017 and strong representations were made on behalf of the VCT industry by Mobeus as Investment Adviser, the Venture Capital Trust Association and the Association of Investment Companies. The recent Chancellor's Autumn Budget Statement outlined the key findings from the review including a number of legislative changes to the VCT scheme, the earliest of which are due to come into effect from 6 April 2018. We understand that these changes are designed to exclude tax-motivated investments where capital is not at risk (that is, principally seeking to preserve investors' capital). Your Board notes the initiatives behind these changes. While some of these changes place further restrictions on the way investments may be structured, the Board currently has no reason to believe they will materially affect the Company's existing strategic objectives. A summary of the current VCT regulations and those proposed in the Autumn Budget is included in the Annual Report. Shareholder Event The Investment Adviser holds an annual VCT event for shareholders in Central London. The event will include presentations on the Mobeus advised VCTs' investment activity and performance. We have been pleased to receive positive comments from those attending in previous years. The next event will again be held at the Royal Institute of British Architects in Central London on Tuesday, 30 January 2018. There will be day-time and separate evening sessions. Shareholders have already been sent an invitation to this event with further details. If you have not replied to the invitation, but would like to attend, please apply to Mobeus ([email protected]) by email to register. The Board looks forward to meeting all shareholders able to join them at the event. Outlook Your Board remains of the opinion that your Company is well positioned to take advantage of the strong demand for growth capital investment, despite the uncertainties faced by the UK economy. The fundraising is currently anticipated to be fully subscribed and this will provide the Company with sufficient funds to continue the current investment rate in the medium term. Your Board will shortly be issuing further guidance (in a joint announcement with the boards of the other Mobeus-advised VCTs) on the impact of the Budget changes, in a supplementary prospectus to the Offer. This will be available on the Company's website and the National Storage Mechanism. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity once again to thank all shareholders for their continued support. Colin Hook Chairman |