I am pleased to present the annual results of Mobeus Income & Growth VCT plc for the year ended 31 December 2017. Overview This has been another year of good performance by the Company. Returns to shareholders have again been positive, principally due to three profitable portfolio company exits as well as a strong income return. Further comment can be found under the 'Performance' section of my Statement below and in the Investment Adviser's Review. The Company and the Investment Adviser have responded well to the VCT Rules introduced by the Finance (No2) Act 2015, having completed twelve growth capital investments since the change in the Company's investment policy. The Investment Adviser has continued to recruit experienced growth capital investors into its team and reports a healthy pipeline of investments. Most recently, additional changes to VCT legislation were proposed in the 2017 Autumn Budget Statement. Your Board does not believe that the changes arising from the Patient Capital Review will materially affect the Company's existing investment policy. Further details can be found under the 'Industry and Regulatory Developments' section of my statement below. Fundraising On 6 September 2017, the Company launched an Offer for Subscription to raise up to £25 million in aggregate. I am delighted to report that there was strong demand for the Offer and that the full amount was raised by 13 March 2018. 33,543,458 shares have been allotted at offer prices ranging from 70.08 to 79.69 pence per share, depending on the prevailing net asset value at the date of each allotment and the method by which each investor subscribed for the Offer. The Board is pleased to achieve its fundraising target comfortably ahead of the end of the current tax year and would like to thank all new investors and shareholders, their advisers and intermediaries, for their support. Performance The NAV total return per share for the year ended 31 December 2017 was 8.6% (2016: 1.5%) (being the closing NAV plus dividends paid in the year, divided by the opening NAV) while the share price total return was 9.7% (2016: 4.3%). The uplift in Net Asset Value per share was 7.22 pence per share based upon the number of shares in issue at the year end. As a result of this performance, the NAV cumulative total return per share (being the closing NAV plus total dividends paid to date since launch) rose during the year by 4.2% from 173.33 pence to 180.55 pence. This NAV return for the year was primarily attributable to the sale of the Company's investments in Entanet Holdings Limited and Gro-Group Holdings Limited and another year of good revenue returns, arising principally from income from loan stock investments. Dividends Your Board is proposing a final dividend in respect of the year ended 31 December 2017 of 3.00 pence per share (2016: nil). The dividend, comprising 1.50 pence from capital, of which 1.00 pence was from the special distributable reserve, and 1.50 pence from income, will be proposed to shareholders at the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held on 9 May 2018, to shareholders on the register on 27 April 2018, for payment on 17 May 2018. This final dividend is in addition to the first interim dividend of 9.00 pence paid on 13 September 2017 and the second interim dividend of 4.00 pence paid on 8 December 2017. If approved by shareholders, this forthcoming final dividend will bring total dividends paid in respect of the year ended 31 December 2017 to 16.00 pence (2016: 14.50 pence) per share, bringing cumulative dividends paid since inception in 2004 to 111.80 pence (2016: 95.80 pence) per share. The Company's target of paying a dividend of at least 4.00 pence per share in respect of each financial year has been exceeded in each of the last eight years. While the Board still believes in the attainment of the dividend target, the gradual move of the portfolio to growth capital investments may make it harder to achieve in a given year without recourse to the Company's reserves. A full dividend history is contained in the Performance Data appendix in the Annual Report and on the Company's website. Investment portfolio For the year under review, the portfolio as a whole achieved a net increase of £5.25 million on investments realised but a decrease of £0.57 million on investments still held. Investment realisations produced £5.41 million in capital gains in excess of original investment cost. On a like-for-like basis, adding back realisations and excluding new investments, the value of the portfolio increased by 9.1% (2016: 0.8% increase). At the year end the remaining portfolio, including companies preparing to trade, was valued at £41.52 million or 98.3% of cost (2016: £51.68 million / 104.2% of cost). During the year £4.65 million was invested in four new growth capital investments and £0.45 million in two existing portfolio companies. These new growth capital companies were: Tapas Revolution, a leading Spanish restaurant chain; Buster + Punch, a London-based interiors brand; 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: £0.29 million was invested into Mpb, an online marketplace for used camera and video equipment and £0.16 million was invested into BookingTek, a provider of direct booking systems to major hotel groups. Following the year end, new investments were made into Proactive Investors (£0.42 million); SuperCarers Limited (£0.58 million) and Hemmels Limited (£0.60 million) and a follow-on investment was made into Mpb (£0.43 million). Further details of these investments are set out in the Investment Adviser's Review below. Shareholders should note that, at the year end, 62.5% of the value of the investment portfolio was held in MBO type investments and 37.5% was held in growth capital investments. Of the growth capital investments, £10.21 million has been invested since the introduction of the VCT rules in 2015. The Company received cash proceeds totalling £17.19 million; £9.94 million from the realisation of three investments; £6.35 million from loan stock repayments; and £0.90 million of other receipts. Of the amount received from realisations, £9.94 million was received as cash proceeds from the disposals of Entanet Holdings Limited, Omega Diagnostics and Gro-Group Holdings Limited, (equating to a 5.20 pence uplift in NAV based upon the number of shares at the year-end). 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 below. Review of longer term performance Shareholders who invested in 2004 at the launch of the Company have seen a NAV cumulative total return of 180.55 pence per share compared with their initial investment cost of 100 pence per share, or a net cost of 60 pence per share (after initial income tax relief of 40 pence of their investment). As part of this return 108.80 pence per share has been paid to shareholders in dividends. This represents an average annual yield on the initial 100 pence investment of 8.2% and 13.7% on the adjusted investment cost of 60 pence (net of 40 pence of initial income tax relief). The balance of the total return is the closing NAV of 71.75 pence per share. The Board also regularly reviews the Company's total (income and capital) return performance on both a NAV and Share Price basis compared to its peer group. Based on the statistics prepared by Morningstar at 31 December 2017, the Company was ranked 9th on both a NAV total return basis and a Share Price total return basis out of 30 generalists (including planned exit) VCTs monitored by the Association of Investment Companies ("AIC") over the last ten years. The Board believes this to be a satisfactory performance. Buybacks of the Company's own shares During the year ended 31 December 2017, the Company made three purchases of its shares, buying back a total of 559,948 shares, allowing shareholders who wanted to sell their shares to do so. The buybacks represented 0.7% of the issued share capital of the Company at the beginning of the year. Further details are included in the Strategic Report in the Annual Report. The shares bought back were subsequently cancelled. 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 2017 Autumn Budget Statement outlined the key findings from the review including a number of legislative changes to the VCT scheme, the earliest of which came into effect on 15 March 2018. These changes are designed to exclude tax-motivated investments where capital is not at risk (that is, principally seeking to preserve investors' capital) and to encourage VCTs to put their money to work faster. 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 investment policy. A summary of the current VCT regulations and the new changes are included in the Annual Report. Key Information Document From 1st January 2018 the EU PRIIPs regulations came into force, mandating the format and content of a Key Information Document ('KID') to be provided by investment products, including VCTs. The KID is intended to allow comparison of certain aspects of investments on a common basis, for the benefit of investors. The KID is required to show both a risk rating and a projection of future possible returns under various scenarios. These numbers come from adherence to prescribed and detailed calculation methodologies but, in essence, derive from the historical volatility of the share price over the last five years. Whilst historic volatility is one measure of risk, it is not the only measure nor is it necessarily an accurate guide and returns, particularly under the stress scenario, could be lower than those indicated in the table. Whilst not wishing to detract from the KID, I would therefore like to caution investors not to place too much reliance on either the risk rating or the future returns, where historic volatility alone over a particular five year period may not be the most useful guide. Investors should also note that the historic volatility was largely derived from a portfolio of MBO investments whereas, over time, the portfolio will now be shifting towards growth capital investments. Shareholder Event This year's annual shareholder event was held on Tuesday, 30 January 2018 at the Royal Institute of British Architects in Central London. Separate day time and evening sessions included presentations on the Mobeus advised VCTs' investment activity and performance. We have received positive feedback from many of the c.300 people who attended the event and were pleased to hear that overall they found the day informative and worthwhile. The next shareholder event will be held in February 2019. Annual General Meeting The next Annual General Meeting of the Company will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, 9 May 2018 at The Clubhouse, 8 St James's Square, London SW1Y 4JU. Both the Board and the Investment Adviser look forward to welcoming shareholders to the meeting which will include a presentation from the Investment Adviser on the investment portfolio. Shareholders are encouraged to attend and to ask questions of the Board and the Investment Adviser. The Notice of the meeting and an explanation of the resolutions to be proposed can be found in the Annual Report. Outlook Your Board considers that your Company is well positioned to take advantage of the strong demand for growth capital investment, although entry valuations can be quite full for the most interesting opportunities. The portfolio has a solid foundation of investments made under the previous MBO strategy, the majority of which are mature and profitable companies providing attractive income returns. We are delighted with the strong support from shareholders for our fundraising, which is currently anticipated to be fully subscribed. This will provide the Company with sufficient funds to meet its cash needs and to continue the current investment rate in the medium term. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity once again to thank all Shareholders for their continued support. Clive Boothman Chairman |