Interim Results

21 November 2019

Syncona Limited

Interim Results for the six months ended 30 September 2019

Pivotal period validating the Syncona model; strong momentum across high quality portfolio

Syncona Ltd, ("Syncona"), a leading healthcare company focused on founding, building and funding a portfolio of global leaders in life science, today announces its Interim Results for the period ended 30 September 2019.

Martin Murphy, CEO of Syncona Investment Management Limited, said:

"We have made good progress across the portfolio and demonstrated a strong track record of success in the first half of 2019. The sales of Blue Earth and Nightstar, two companies we founded, generated strong risk-adjusted returns, strengthened our capital base and enabled us to invest significantly into our exciting portfolio of companies as they scale. We continue to see a strong pipeline of opportunities across a broad range of therapeutic areas to found new companies and take products to market, as we seek to build a sustainable, diversified portfolio of 15-20 companies in innovative areas of healthcare."

Financial performance

 

·      Net assets at 30 September 2019 of £1,336.8 million (31 March 2019: £1,455.1 million); 198.9p per share[1], a NAV total return[2] of (7.2) per cent

·      Life science portfolio, valued at £481.3 million, a (11.8) per cent return[3] over the six months

- Uplifts from the sale of Blue Earth Diagnostics (Blue Earth) and a Series B financing in Achilles Therapeutics (Achilles)

- Outweighed by a 61 per cent decline in Autolus' (NASDAQ: AUTL) share price; we continue to believe in the company's strong fundamentals

 

Proven value creation through differentiated model

 

·      Blue Earth and Nightstar sales generated an aggregate of £592.6 million of proceeds

- Sale of Blue Earth to Bracco Imaging for $476.3 million, represented a 10x return on invested capital[4] and an IRR of 87 per cent[5]

- Sale of Nightstar to Biogen for $877.0 million represented a 4.5x return on invested capital[6] and an IRR of 72 per cent[7]

 

Strengthened capital base to fund growing life science portfolio

 

·      Capital base increased by £455.8 million to £855.5 million[8]

·      £127.2 million investment into our life science companies in line with strategy, including:

- Investment of $24.0 million in a $109.0 million follow-on financing in Autolus

- Committed £48.0 million to Gyroscope Therapeutics in a £50.4 million Series B financing

- Achilles raised £100.0 million in an oversubscribed Series B; Syncona was the largest investor in the round with £35.1 million commitment

·      Capital deployment for the full year to increase to £200-£250 million; subject to timings of financings and disciplined approach to capital allocation

Strong clinical progress

 

·      Ongoing progress in the clinical pipeline with seven live clinical trials, including:

- Encouraging initial data from Autolus (NASDAQ: AUTL) in AUTO1 adult ALL

- Freeline commenced second clinical programme in Fabry's Disease

- Dose optimisation progressing in Freeline's B-AMAZE Phase 1/ 2 trial in Haemophilia B

- Dose escalation ongoing in Gyroscope Phase 1/2 trial in dry AMD

 

Recent events post period end:

 

·      Committed £29.5 million to new portfolio company, Azeria Therapeutics (Azeria), a company developing and commercialising innovative cancer therapeutics

·      Achilles commenced patient enrolment in first programme in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

·      Autolus announced that it will present further data from its pipeline of programmes at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) conference including: AUTO1, AUTO2 and AUTO3

 

Outlook - long-term opportunity to create significant value

We see a rich pipeline of opportunities around which to found new companies with the ambition of taking products to market, including across areas such as gene therapy, cell therapy, small molecules and biologics. In our existing portfolio, we provide ambitious, long-term funding to our companies, which are scaling rapidly and progressing through the development cycle enabling us to retain significant ownership positions of strategic influence. In line with this and subject to the timing of financings, we expect our capital deployment for the full year to increase to £200-£250 million (prior FY2020 guidance: £100-200 million).

In the short term, data generated from our clinical pipeline will be a core driver of value, and we expect both Freeline's B-AMAZE trial in Haemophilia B to publish data in this financial year and Autolus to take a decision on whether to initiate a Phase 2 trial in AUTO3 DLBCL in mid CY2020.

Long-term, we believe there is an opportunity to create significant value in life science through our differentiated model. We are half way to our target of building an evolving, diversified portfolio of 15-20 companies. Over the next 10 years, we expect to deliver 3-5 companies from this portfolio which reach the point of product approval and where Syncona remains a significant shareholder. We believe this approach will maximise risk-adjusted returns for shareholders.

Chris Hollowood, CIO, of Syncona Investment Management Limited, said: 

"Following the addition of new Syncona company, Azeria, we have a high-quality portfolio of nine companies. Three are at clinical stage, where the data generated will be a core driver of value. Whilst clinical and regulatory processes involve significant risk, we have a high level of conviction in our companies, and there is strong momentum in the portfolio.

We have a highly expert team, strategic capital base and differentiated model to found, build and fund businesses through the translation of globally leading life science research as we seek to deliver transformational treatments to patients and strong risk-adjusted returns for shareholders."

[ENDS]

Enquiries

Syncona Ltd 

Annabel Clay / Siobhan Weaver

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3981 7940

 

FTI Consulting

Brett Pollard / Ben Atwell / Natalie Garland-Collins

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3727 1000

 

About Syncona:

Syncona is a leading FTSE250 healthcare company focused on founding, building and funding a portfolio of global leaders in life science. Our vision is to build a sustainable, diverse portfolio of 15 - 20 companies focused on delivering transformational treatments to patients in truly innovative areas of healthcare, through which we are seeking to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns for shareholders.

We seek to partner with the best, brightest and most ambitious minds in science to build globally competitive businesses. We take a long-term view, underpinned by a strategic capital base which provides us with control and flexibility over the management of our portfolio. We focus on delivering dramatic efficacy for patients in areas of high unmet need.

Copies of this press release, a company results presentation, and other corporate information can be found on the company website at: www.synconaltd.com 

Forward-looking statements - this announcement contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to the portfolio of investments of Syncona Limited. These statements and forecasts involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend upon circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In particular, many companies in the Syncona Limited portfolio are conducting scientific research and clinical trials where the outcome is inherently uncertain and there is significant risk of negative results or adverse events arising. In addition, many companies in the Syncona Limited portfolio have yet to commercialise a product and their ability to do so may be affected by operational, commercial and other risks.

Chairman's foreword

Syncona's differentiated approach has been validated in the first half of this year. There is significant momentum in our portfolio companies which are scaling rapidly. Our ability to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns was demonstrated with the realisation of two Syncona founded companies, which also significantly strengthened our capital base.

Performance in the six months

Uplifts from the sale of Blue Earth and the recent financing of Achilles were outweighed by the 61 per cent decline in Autolus' share price, and net assets decreased to £1,336.8 million or 198.9p per share[9], a (7.2) per cent total return[10] in the six months (31 March 2019: net assets of £1,455.1 million, 216.8 p per share).

At the end of the period, we have a life science portfolio valued at £481.3 million and a capital base supporting the growth of this portfolio of £855.5 million. A strong balance sheet and certainty of funding is key to delivering our strategy and our capital base provides us with the flexibility to back our portfolio companies as they scale, whilst allowing us to take a long-term approach and maintain significant ownership positions.

Board transition

I am delighted that Melanie Gee will take over as Chair when I retire from the Board on 31 December 2019. Melanie brings a wealth of expertise from 30 years in investment banking and is an experienced FTSE board member. She will be an excellent Chair as the Company moves into its next stage of growth. I am very grateful to my colleagues for their invaluable contribution and support over my past seven years on the Board.

 

Long-term opportunity

In 2016, we acquired a portfolio of life science assets together with a leading management team from the Wellcome Trust. We set out our vision to found and build globally competitive life science companies with the ambition to take products to market, deliver transformational treatments to patients and generate strong risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders. I am delighted that we have seen rapid and significant progress over the last three years and are well on the way towards achieving our vision.

Syncona has a unique model underpinned by a strategic pool of capital and an expert team that continues to expand our high-quality portfolio of life science companies which we expect to continue to drive significant returns for shareholders. We have a strong pipeline of exciting opportunities, leveraging the rich landscape of science and innovation in the UK and beyond. I am proud of what has been achieved so far and even more excited for the future. I believe there is a huge opportunity for Syncona to create significant value for shareholders over the long-term.

Jeremy Tigue

Chairman

20 November 2019

 

CEO Statement

Syncona has made strong progress as we continue to deliver on our strategy of creating a portfolio of life science companies based on founding, building and funding global leaders in healthcare.

A growing track record of success:

Syncona has an expert team and a permanent capital base to capture the out-return from the commercialisation of an exceptional research base in life science in Europe, particularly the UK. This platform is combined with a differentiated, long-term, product focused strategy to maximise risk-adjusted returns for shareholders. We believe that significant value creation in life science comes by taking products into late development and to approval - targeting the steepest part of the value creation curve. To deliver this, we select science and innovation that will have a transformational impact for patients, and which can be credibly developed by innovative biotech companies all the way to product approval. We found our companies with this ambition, build them for global success and fund them ambitiously over the long-term, maintaining significant ownership positions and thereby maximising our opportunity to capture significant value for shareholders. It is important that our companies know Syncona can fund them for the long-term, as this gives us the ability to build globally competitive businesses and attract the best management teams.

Having identified and financed Azeria post period end, we have a portfolio of nine companies, which is diversified across a range of therapeutic areas and are at various stages of the development cycle. The sale of two of our most developed businesses, Blue Earth and Nightstar, which completed during the half year demonstrated our ability to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns for shareholders. In the case of Blue Earth, we sold the business to Bracco Imaging for $476.3 million in June, generating proceeds of £336.8 million and a return of 10x original invested capital[11]. Syncona founded the business in 2014 and worked in close partnership with the Blue Earth management team to successfully develop, launch and commercialise an impactful product for prostate cancer imaging, funding the business on a sole-basis. We also completed the sale of Nightstar, a company we founded in 2014. Nightstar also benefited from our long-term, operational and hands-on approach and we accepted an offer of $877.0 million for the business from Biogen earlier this year, crystallising proceeds of £255.8 million (representing a return of 4.5x original invested capital[12]).

The decisions to sell Blue Earth and Nightstar were driven by our view of the balance of risk and reward facing these companies and represented attractive opportunities to deliver out sized returns for our shareholders. Our model enables us to redeploy the proceeds, into our portfolio companies as they scale, and also pursue exciting new opportunities as we look to build a sustainable portfolio.

Strong progress across our portfolio:

We have seen significant financial, clinical and operational progress inour portfolio companies during the first half of the year. We have completed significant financings in three of our portfolio companies, commenced a new clinical trial in Fabry disease, have seen encouraging data reported in AUTO1 adult ALL and now have seven active clinical trials in our promising clinical pipeline. While the Autolus share price has declined during the period, we are focused on long-term value creation and believe the fundamentals of the company are strong.

Post-period end, we have committed £29.5 million in a £32.0 million Series B financing to a new Syncona company, Azeria Therapeutics, which is focused on developing small molecules designed to treat hormone resistant breast cancer. The company was founded in 2017 by a world-leading academic, Dr Jason Carroll, who is an expert in the study of pioneering factors in cancer. His scientific insights have identified a new target and mechanism of action in an area of high unmet need, namely the approximately 30 per cent of oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer patients, who ultimately progress to late stage endocrine resistant disease[13].

 

Azeria received £5.5 million of Series A funding from the CRT Pioneer Fund in which Syncona is the largest investor. This gave us unique insight and access to the investment, through which we saw an opportunity to build a world-leading oncology company focused on developing its lead programme through to commercialisation and building a pipeline of further programmes. Syncona Partners, Magda Jonikas and Michael Kyriakides are now developing the business plan and clinical pipeline with the Azeria team. Through our investment in the CRT Pioneer Fund, and directly through the Series B financing, Syncona has a 75 per cent ownership holding in Azeria[14].

 

A rapidly scaling portfolio

Successful life science companies scale rapidly. They require increasing amounts of capital to achieve their ambitions as they progress through the development cycle, secure globally leading management teams and build industrial scale.

Our portfolio companies are progressing well meaning the scale of the capital which they require is also increasing. We have three companies in the clinic progressing seven programmes and have deployed £127.2 million in the period. Our strategic capital base, which has been significantly strengthened by the sale of Blue Earth and Nightstar, provides us with the flexibility to back our companies over the long-term, while retaining significant ownership stakes.

Managing risk and reward

As our companies scale, we continue to take a disciplined approach to capital allocation to optimise returns for our shareholders. For any given company, we continually assess the opportunity, the fundamental risk, the capital required to scale ambitiously and the strength of our own balance sheet, to determine the optimum financing approach or the right time to sell a company.

We typically remain the sole investor throughout initial rounds of investments. However, there will also be circumstances where the right thing for the company, and Syncona, will be to bring in likeminded investors to support the portfolio company, while maintaining a significant ownership stake, for example where the capital required is at a level beyond which we could prudently invest from our balance sheet.

Equally, we will sell companies prior to product approval if we have the opportunity to capture an out-sized risk-adjusted return for our shareholders, applying our disciplined assessment of the risk and future opportunity. We believe the sale of Nightstar is a good example of this strategy. Importantly, our capital base protects against the risk of being a forced seller and allows us to make informed decisions around whether to invest alone or divest our companies to realise value.

Alongside financial risk, there is also scientific, clinical, execution and commercial risk in building life science companies. The Syncona team's strong track record and expertise means that we are highly qualified to understand and manage these risks both at an early stage and through the development cycle, but it is the nature of life science businesses that some of our companies won't succeed. In these circumstances, we aim to take action quickly to recover as much value as possible and limit further costs, so that we can reallocate our time and investment capacity to other opportunities.

At the portfolio level, we also seek to manage risk through the creation of a portfolio of 15-20 companies which we would expect to sit across a range of therapeutic areas and development stages. We believe this level of diversification is appropriate to meet our primary goal of delivering 3-5 companies to the point of approval.

Significant opportunity over the long-term:

We continue to see a rich set of opportunities in the UK, where there is a globally differentiated research base. These include high quality opportunities in gene and cell therapy, areas where we already have deep domain expertise and strong platform capabilities, and attractive pipeline opportunities more broadly across a range of therapeutic areas and modalities, including small molecules and biologics. Our focus is on finding opportunities where we can deliver our strategy to build global leaders aiming to take their products to market and capture shareholder returns by targeting the steepest part of the value creation curve. Our proactive approach to identifying innovative areas of science and then partnering with globally leading academics to found new companies enables us to access the very best opportunities and bring the Syncona team's differentiated expertise to bear from the outset.

We enter the second half with strong momentum in the portfolio. We remain focused on leveraging our expertise and differentiated model to build globally competitive businesses. Over the next 10 years, we are seeking to build our high conviction portfolio to 15-20 companies, adding new companies at a rate of 2-3 a year. Our goal is to deliver 3-5 companies, in which we retain a significant ownership position, to the point of product approval. We believe this will enable us to capture the significant value creation opportunity available from commercialising life science innovation and ultimately achieve our ambition to deliver transformational treatments to patients and strong risk-adjusted returns for shareholders.

Martin Murphy, CEO Syncona Investment Management Limited

20 November 2019

 

Life science portfolio review

There is good progress in the portfolio, which was valued at £481.3 million at 30 September 2019, with eight companies at the end of the period: three clinical stage companies and five pre-clinical companies focused on establishing operations and setting and implementing their strategic vision.

Clinical companies:

Autolus (11.0% of NAV, 29% shareholding):

·      Encouraging data in AUTO1 adult acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) programme; the company completed a follow-on financing of $109.0 million where Syncona invested $24.0 million

·      AUTO1 adult ALL expected to move to a pivotal programme in H1 2020; further data from AUTO1, AUTO2 and AUTO3 to be presented at ASH in December 2019

Autolus is our biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation programmed T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. During the period, the company reported initial positive data from the AUTO1 adult ALL Phase 1/2 trial and confirmed that it plans to initiate a pivotal programme in the first half of calendar year 2020. It also reported that it will move to focus on a next generation product targeting multiple myeloma as its AUTO2 programme is not differentiated from competitor programmes. Autolus also intends to make a decision on whether to initiate a Phase 2 trial for AUTO3 in Diffuse Large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in mid-2020, whilst in paediatric ALL (pALL), it reported that it will focus on its AUTO1 and AUTO NG products, where data currently indicates a differentiated combination of efficacy, safety and persistence. AUTO1NG is expected to commence a Phase 1 study in the first half of 2020.

Autolus completed a $109.0 million follow-on financing in April 2019, in which Syncona invested $24.0 million. The business has also been focused on expanding operations at its clinical manufacturing site at the Catapult Cell and Gene facility in Stevenage, to enable the company to meet its expected demand for its clinical trials.

Post period end, the business published abstracts for the ASH conference in November 2019, where it reported further early encouraging data from its AUTO3 programme in DLBCL from the low dose cohorts, with further data from patients in a higher dose cohort expected to be presented at ASH. The business also reported that it will publish data from its pipeline of programmes, including AUTO1 (pALL and adult ALL), AUTO2 and AUTO3 (pALL and DLBCL) at the conference.

Despite the recent share price fall, our view is that Autolus is a strong company with positive fundamentals as it seeks to apply a broad range of technologies to engineer a pipeline of precisely targeted T cell therapies designed to better recognise and attack cancer cells. The business is expecting to initiate a registrational trial in its lead programme in AUTO1 in adult ALL in H1 CY2020, where there is currently no CAR-T therapy approved. Compared to the current standard of care in relapsed refractory Adult ALL, Blincyto, a redirected T cell engager, AUTO1 has the potential to have a highly differentiated efficacy profile with a comparable safety profile. There is an addressable patient population of 3,000 patients[15] and 8,400 new cases of adult ALL diagnosed yearly worldwide and therefore this represents a significant commercial opportunity for the business[16].

 

Freeline (8.9% of NAV, 80% shareholding):

·      Two clinical programmes; dose optimisation continues in lead programme in Haemophilia B programme and first patient dosed in second programme in Fabry's Disease

·      Further data from Haemophilia B programme is expected in this financial year and early data from the Fabry programme is expected to be reported in FY2021

Freeline, our gene therapy company focused on liver expression for a range of chronic systemic diseases, is progressing its lead programme in Haemophilia B through clinical development in which it is seeking to deliver FIX activity in patients in the normal range. The normal range of FIX activity in the general population's blood is between 50% and 150%. The business continues to enrol patients as part of its dose-ranging trial and is currently completing dose optimisation with the goal of delivering FIX activity consistently in the normal range for all patients. The business expects to report further data in the trial in this financial year.

Freeline also dosed its first patient in a Phase 1/2 in its second programme in Fabry Disease, which is estimated affects one in every 40,000 people[17]. It is the first AAV gene therapy clinical study in Fabry disease globally. Early data from the Fabry programme is expected to be released in FY2021.

Freeline is also progressing pre-clinical programmes targeting Gaucher disease and Haemophilia A, which are part of a broad pipeline of systemic disorders, where achieving high expression of FIX activity is crucial to achieving a functional cure for patients.

Importantly, the business has also been focused on developing its world leading manufacturing platform, so that it can deliver high-quality, consistent product at commercial scale, supporting its ambition to ultimately deliver product to patients.

Gyroscope (4.2% of NAV, 80% shareholding):

·      Syncona £48.0 million commitment in a £50.4 million Series B financing

·      Continued dosing in first programme in dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD); expects to complete enrolment in the FOCUS trial in FY2020, with initial data reported by FY2022

Gyroscope Therapeutics is developing gene therapy beyond rare disease and using it to treat a leading cause of blindness, dry age-related macular degeneration (dry-AMD). Dry-AMD is the leading cause of permanent vision impairment for people aged 65 and older and there are no approved treatments.

During the period Gyroscope closed a £50.4 million Series B financing, to continue the clinical development of both the company's lead investigational gene therapy (GT005) and the second-generation Orbit Subretinal Delivery System.

In line with our strategy to fund our companies ambitiously over the long-term, Syncona committed £48 million in the Series B financing, bringing its total commitment to Gyroscope since its inception to £82 million.

Research suggests that when a part of the immune system, the complement system, is overactive it leads to inflammation that damages healthy eye tissues. Gyroscope's lead investigational gene therapy, GT005, is designed to restore balance to the complement system to hopefully slow, or possibly stop, the progression of dry-AMD.

The company is currently enrolling in a Phase 1/2 dose-escalating clinical trial, known as the FOCUS study, and to date there have not been any safety concerns.

Gyroscope is also conducting a natural history study, known as the SCOPE study, that will enroll and genotype patients in Europe, Australia, and the United States. The SCOPE study will provide valuable genetic, biomarker and disease progression insight that will inform the company's future clinical development plans.

Pre-clinical companies (8.4% of NAV):

Achilles (5.4% of NAV, 44% shareholding):

·      £100.0 million Series B financing cornerstoned by a £35.1 million commitment from Syncona

·      Enrolled first patients in first programme in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC); initial data in first two programmes in non-small cell lung cancer and melanoma expected by FY2022

Achilles, our cell therapy company which is focused on immunotherapy to treat solid tumours (initially lung cancer and melanoma), continues to make progress.

Proceeds from the recent financing are expected to enable the business to deliver two human proof-of-concept studies in Achilles' first programmes in NSCLC and melanoma. The business has enrolled the first patients in its NSCLC programme during the period. In addition, the financing will enable Achilles to continue building out its manufacturing capabilities as well as broaden its growing solid tumour pre-clinical product pipeline.

SwanBio (1.4% of NAV; 70% shareholding)

SwanBio, our gene therapy company focused on neurological disorders, has made good progress over the period, building out its leadership team with a number of appointments in the period. SwanBio's lead programme is focused on one of the most common monogenic neurological disorders, which currently has no available therapies and Syncona Partner Alex Hamilton is working with the company to develop its pipeline of indications.

OMASS (0.7% of NAV; 46% shareholding)

OMASS Therapeutics, our biopharmaceutical company using structural mass spectrometry to discover novel medicines, continued to leverage its unique technology platform and it is now fully deployed as a discovery engine for small molecule drug therapeutics. Syncona Partners Ed Hodgkin and Magda Jonikas have worked with the team and hired Ros Deegan, a highly experienced senior executive in drug discovery, as Chief Executive Officer. The business is now focused on building a pipeline of therapeutic agents.

Quell (0.6% of NAV; 69% shareholding)

Quell Therapeutics has been established with the aim of developing engineered T regulatory (Treg) cell therapies to treat a range of conditions such as solid organ transplant rejection, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The business appointed Iain McGill as Chief Executive Officer during the period. Iain is a leading pharmaceutical executive who has spent the majority of his 25 years in the industry in the area of solid organ and cell transplantation. Syncona Partner Freddie Dear is working in the company as Director of Operations. The team has expanded to 25 people and the company has been focused on building out R&D, manufacturing operations and capabilities. The business is targeting a first indication in liver transplant and candidate nomination is anticipated in FY2021.

Anaveon (0.3% of NAV; 47% shareholding)

Anaveon is developing a selective Interleukin 2 ("IL-2") Receptor Agonist, a type of protein that could therapeutically enhance a patient's immune system to respond to tumours. The business is expanding its operations and has recently moved into an independent laboratory space at Technologie Park Basel. The business has been focused on expanding the leadership team and is progressing towards clinical trials with candidate nomination in FY2021.

Life science investments (3.5% NAV):

Beyond Syncona's portfolio companies, where we typically have a significant ownership stake and are a partner with operational and strategic influence, we also have a small number of life science investments which represent good opportunities to generate returns for shareholders or provide promising options for the future in areas where Syncona has deep domain knowledge.

The largest holding is the CRT Pioneer Fund, which is focused on early stage investments in highly innovative oncology programmes which were primarily sourced from its proprietary pipeline agreement with Cancer Research UK. Syncona is the largest investor in the fund and has contributed a net £4.8 million to the fund during the period, with a further £10.1 million of uncalled commitments remaining that we expect to be called within the next 24 months. Its investment period closed in March 2018 and the manager is now focused on supporting the existing 11 investments in the portfolio. This portfolio has a number of exciting investments, notably Azeria, to which we have committed £29.5 million post period end.

Active clinical pipeline at 30 September 2019

Programme / Indication	Status and next steps
Autolus - cell therapy / oncology
AUTO1 / Adult ALL	Phase 1/2 trial progressing; start pivotal programme in this financial year
AUTO1 / Paediatric ALL	Phase 1/2 trials progressing, (assessing safety, dose and efficacy) data anticipated this financial year
AUTO3 - Adult DLBCL
AUTO4 - T cell Lymphoma	Phase 1/2 trial progressing; expect to present initial AUTO4 Phase 1 data H2 CY2020
Freeline
B-AMAZE - Haemophilia B	Phase 1/2 trial progressing (assessing safety, dose and efficacy, dose escalation and optimisation phase), further data anticipated this financial year
Fabry's Disease	Phase 1/2 trial progressing (assessing safety, dose and efficacy, dose escalation and optimisation phase), early data expected in FY2021
Gyroscope
FOCUS - Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration	Phase 1/2 trial progressing (assessing safety, dose response and efficacy of two doses of GT005). Anticipate completing first dose escalation this financial year

 

Pre-clinical programmes anticipated to commence trials in FY2020

Programme / Indication	Status and next steps
Achilles
Non-small cell lung cancer	Enrolling patients for its Phase 1/2 trial; expects to initiate Phase 1/2 trial in this financial year and initial data expected by FY2022
Melanoma	Enrolling patients for Phase 1/2 trial and expects to initiate in this financial year

 

Chris Hollowood, Chief Investment Officer, Syncona Investment Management Limited

20 November 2019

 

Finance review

Strong commercial and financial momentum across our portfolio

We continue to ambitiously fund and build our portfolio companies. Gyroscope and Achilles, completed private financing rounds in which Syncona was either the sole or largest institutional investor, committing £83.1 million to fund these companies as they move into the clinic. We invested £18.3 million in the secondary placing of Autolus, as it progresses its pipeline of trials through the clinic and remain its largest shareholder, with a 29 per cent holding. We also materially strengthened our capital base, which underpins our strategy and model, completing the sales of Blue Earth to Bracco Imaging and of Nightstar to Biogen.

NAV performance impacted by fall in Autolus share price

NAV performance in the six months was impacted by the 61 per cent fall in the share price of Autolus, which outweighed the £92.7 million positive impact of the sale of Blue Earth and uplift in the value of Achilles. This resulted in a negative return from the life science portfolio of 11.8 per cent[18] or a loss of £108.7 million and we ended the period with net assets of £1,336.8 million, or 198.9p per share[19], a 7.2 per cent negative return over the six months[20].

From a valuation perspective, 60.9 per cent of the life science portfolio[21] is valued on the basis of capital invested (cost) or at the value of a recent third-party financing, in the case of financing rounds that have been syndicated, calibrated for events that have taken place since the initial transaction that indicate a change in the investments' fair value. Companies which are publicly listed, are valued at their period end share price. Volatility in the value of early stage companies is to be expected, and in the case of Autolus, which is listed on NASDAQ, we continue to believe in company's strong fundamentals.

Capital deployment to increase to £200 - 250 million for this financial year

We continue to maintain a rigorous and disciplined approach to the allocation of capital to each portfolio company to maximise risk adjusted returns for shareholders. In total, we deployed £127.2 million of capital in the six months, funding milestone payments in our portfolio companies and the initial tranche of our Series B commitments to Gyroscope and Achilles. While the absolute level of deployment is dependent on the timing of the financing requirements, our current expectation is that capital deployment will increase to between £200 - £250 million for this financial year.

Looking forward, our portfolio companies are scaling rapidly and subject to the portfolio and investment pipeline progressing, we would expect our capital deployment to be in the range of £150 - £250 million per year.

Increase in uncalled commitments reflect new financing rounds

Uncalled commitments were £129.4 million at the end of the period. Of the £129.4 million, £114.3 million relate to milestone payments, which are subject to the satisfaction of key commercial and clinical milestones, mitigating financial risk. The remaining £15.1 million of commitments are split £10.1 million to the CRT Pioneer Fund and £5.0 million to two legacy fixed term funds.

	Uncalled Commitment
Life Science Portfolio:
Milestone payments to portfolio companies	114.3
CRT Pioneer Fund	10.1
Fund Portfolio	5.0
TOTAL	129.4

 

Significant strengthening of the capital base

The completion of the sales of Blue Earth and Nightstar generated proceeds of £592.6 million and significantly strengthened our capital base, which stood at £855.5 million[22] at the half year. The strength of our balance sheet is a strategic differentiator and a competitive advantage. It allows the team to take long term funding decisions, while retaining strategic ownership positions as our companies scale.

Syncona's developing life science companies are capital intensive, and the strength of our capital base protects against the risk of being a forced seller and gives us the flexibility to fund our companies over the long term, on a sole or partnered basis. Certainty of funding is key and for our model to be successful we believe our capital base needs to be sufficient to provide funding for our life science companies and new opportunities for a minimum of two to three years and hold at least one year's deployment in cash and cash equivalents.

Liquidity profile	£m
Net cash	22.2
< 1 month	356.6
1-3 months	395.4
3-12 months	7.6
>12 months	73.7
Total	855.5

 

The transition of the capital pool, away from fund investments is now largely complete. The majority of our liquidity is held in cash, cash equivalents, and fixed income products with a focus on liquidity and capital preservation.

Expenses

The Company's ongoing charges ratio[23] reduced to 0.55 per cent (30 September 2018: 0.82 per cent), a significant part of which reflects effective cost management. Allowing for the costs associated with the Incentive Plan, ongoing charges were 0.77 per cent of NAV (30 September 2018: 1.29 per cent).

Incentive Plan

The incentive plan aligns the investment team with shareholders and vests on a straight-line basis over a four-year period with awards settled in cash and Syncona shares. The total liability for the cash settlement element of the incentive plan was £14.2 million at 30 September 2019 (30 September 2018: £10.8 million), with the £6.1 million payment made to participants in the period partially offset by an increase in eligible MES, as the vesting schedule matures. In addition, 1,583,138 (30 September 2018:20,836) shares were issued to employees in connection with MES realisations in the six months. At 30 September 2019, the number of Syncona shares that could potentially be issued in connection with the MES stood at 8,525,594, taking the total number of fully-diluted shares, for the purposes of calculating NAV per share, to 672,191,131.

Foreign exchange

At the half year, we continued to hold the Company's foreign exchange exposure in the life science portfolio unhedged, US dollar denominated investments total £149.3 million and Swiss Franc denominated investments total £3.9 million. We hedge €52.0 million of our euro exposure in legacy fixed term fund investments and the unrealised gain on the associated forward contracts was £1.8 million at 30 September 2019.

Recent events

Since the period end, Syncona has made a £29.5 million commitment to new company, Azeria, of which £6.5 million has been invested.

John Bradshaw, Chief Financial Officer, Syncona Investment Management Limited
20 November 2019

Supplementary Information

Life science valuation table:

Company	31 March 2019 Value (£m)	Net Investment in Period (£m)	Valuation Change (£m)	30 September 2019 Value (£m) - fair value	%NAV	Fair value basis[24]	Fully Diluted Ownership %	Focus Area
Life science portfolio companies
Product approval
Blue Earth	267.5	-336.8	69.3	0.0	0.0%	Sale price	0%	Advanced diagnostics
Clinical
Nightstar	255.8	-255.8		0.0	0.0%	Sale price	0%	Gene therapy
Autolus	328.2	18.3	-199.1	147.4	11.0%	Quoted	29%	Cell therapy
Freeline	93.5	25.0		118.5	8.9%	Cost	80%	Gene therapy
Gyroscope	28.9	27.1		56.0	4.2%	Cost	80%	Gene therapy
Pre-clinical
Achilles	16.2	32.8	23.4	72.4	5.4%	Recent financing (within 0-6 months)	44%	Cell therapy
SwanBio	5.3	12.9	0.5	18.7	1.4%	Cost	70%	Gene therapy
Omass	3.5	6.3		9.8	0.7%	Cost	46%	Therapeutics
Anaveon	3.7		0.2	3.9	0.3%	Cost	47%	Immunoncology
Quell	8.3			8.3	0.6%	Cost	69%	Cell therapy
Life Science Investments
CRT Pioneer Fund	34.3	4.8		39.1	2.9%	Adj Third Party	N/A
CEGX	3.9			3.9	0.3%	Recent financing (within 6-12 months)	9%
Adaptimmune	4.9		-3.0	1.9	0.2%	Quoted	0%
Syncona Collaborations	1.4			1.4	0.1%	Cost	100%
TOTAL	1,055.4	-465.4	-108.7	481.3	36.0%

 

Supplementary portfolio company information:

Company & investment thesis	Lead programme & disease population	Opportunity in and differentiation of lead programme	Key comparators[25]	Key potential risks[26]
Autolus Applying a broad range of technologies to build a pipeline of precisely targeted T cell therapies designed to better recognise and attack cancer cells	AUTO1 ALLCAR19 Phase 1/2 in Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia 3,000 patients globally[27] p.a.	Unmet medical need: only 30-40% of patients with Adult ALL achieve long term remission with combination chemotherapy, the current standard of care[28] No CAR-T therapy approved for adult ALL for patients AUTO1 targets a differentiated safety profile (reduce high grade CRS[29]) and improvedpersistence to address limitations of current T cell therapies[30]	CAR-T active programmes in clinical development for Adult ALL include Gilead[31]	Differentiated product required Complex manufacturing
Freeline Potential to deliver constant high protein expression levels across a broad pipeline of systemic diseases; opportunity to deliver curative gene therapies	B-AMAZE: Phase 1/2 in Haemophilia B  9,500 patients (total) US and EU5[32]	Unmet medical need: current standard of care, Enzyme Replacement Therapy (infusions of FIX into the blood), requires regular administration and FIX activity does not remain stable Opportunity to deliver a single dose cure for patients by achieving FIX levels in the 'normal' range in the blood of 50-150% Utilising a novel, proprietary capsid and industrialised proprietary manufacturing platform	Active clinical programmes for Haem B include: Spark/Pfizer[33] UniQure[34]	Highly competitive environment Differentiated product required Manufacturing
Gyroscope A novel company developing gene therapy beyond rare disease by understanding the immune system and the role genetics play in a patient's risk of developing late stage AMD	FOCUS Phase 1/2 in Dry-Age-Related Macular Degeneration 2 million patients (total) with geographic atrophy (late stage, dry-AMD)[35]	Unmet medical need: age related macular degeneration is one of the leading causes of permanent vision impairment for people aged 65 and older with no approved treatments[36]. Research suggests that when a part of the immune system, the complement system, is overactive it leads to inflammation that can damage healthy eye tissues Gene therapy may stimulate a patient's cells to produce the proteins needed to restore balance to the complement system Developing a subretinal delivery system to safely, precisely and consistently deliver therapies into the eye and help scale the surgical procedure for larger patient populations.	No directly competitive gene therapy approach. Apellis (clinical)[37]; Gemini (pre-clinical)[38] Hemera[39] (non-gene therapy)	Highly innovative concept - currently unsupported by a significant existing data set
Achilles Differentiated cell therapy approach targeting solid tumours utilising Tumour Infiltrating Lymphocytes & clonal neoantigens to develop personalised treatments	Phase 1/2: Non-small cell lung cancer 234,000 patients US and UK[40] p.a.	Unmet medical need: lung cancer, of which NSCLC accounts for approximately 85%[41], with limited treatment options and is the leading cause of cancer deaths[42]. TILs have shown convincing efficacy in solid tumours[43] Achilles' world leading bioinformatics platform, PELEUSTM is built on exclusive access to world largest study of tumour evolution in lung cancer (TRACERx) Achilles process uses the patient's own genomic information to create a truly personalised medicine targeting the clonal neoantigens specific to that patient	Key competitors in neoantigen/ immunotherapy include: Iovance[44] Neon Therapeutics[45] Gritstone[46] Oncology	Highly innovative concept in an emerging space Significant manufacturing challenge Increasing competition

 

Company	Syncona's Investment Thesis	Key comparators	Key risks
Swan Gene therapy focused on neurological disorders where there is existing proof of concept	Unmet medical need: one of the most common monogenic neurological disorders, with no available therapies for severely debilitating progressive movement disorder Gene therapy has the potential to be transformational in neurology[47] one-off delivery mechanism and hundreds of single gene disorders First programme in preclinical development for an inherited neurodegenerative disease in which the causative gene is definitively known and well characterized	Several clinical trials for gene therapy within CNS field, including programmes within Voyager[48] Uniqure[49], Amicus[50], Prevail Therapeutics[51] and PTC Therapeutics[52]	Manufacturing and delivery challenges in the CNS (substantial dose required) Clinical endpoints in slow progressing diseases can be challenging to define
Quell Engineered cell therapy company addressing "immune dysregulation"	Unmet medical need: current standard of care for prevention of solid organ transplant rejection is life-long immunosuppression which results in an array of serious long-term side effects (e.g. renal function, malignancy, infection, cardiovascular disease) materially impacting patient quality of life and long-term survival[53] Novel cell therapy approach using T-regulatory cells with a suppressive action to downregulate the immune system to treat conditions including solid organ transplant rejection, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases Potential pipeline to treat serious, chronic conditions mediated by the immune system; in the autoimmune setting alone, there are are >70 chronic disorders estimated to affect over 4% of the population[54] Pre-clinical stage: first programme to address solid organ transplant	T Reg field is nascent TX Cell/Sangamo[55]	Highly innovative concept, limited clinical data supporting application of CAR-T technology in Treg cells
Anaveon Immuno-oncology company developing a selective IL-2 Receptor Agonist	Unmet medical need: Human Interleukin 2 "IL-2" approved as a medicine for the treatment of metastatic melanoma and renal cancer, but with a frequent administration schedule and significant toxicity[56] Preclinical stage, developing a selective Interleukin 2 ("IL-2) Receptor Agonist with improved administration and tox burden Wide potential utility across multiple oncology indications in large markets[57]	Companies developing products in the IL-2 field include: Nektar[58], Roche[59], Alkermes[60], Synthorx[61].	Highly competitive Innovative concept which is currently unsupported by a significant clinical data set
OMASS Drug Discovery platform with differentiated technology	Opportunity to build a drug discovery platform employing a differentiated Modified Mass Spectrometry technology with the potential to yield high quality chemical hits to discover novel small molecule drug therapeutics for a variety of complex targets, including membrane receptors	N/A	Pre-clinical and clinical attrition of potential drugs

 

Syncona life science portfolio returns (30 September 2019)

Company	Cost	Value	Multiple	IRR
Maturing
Autolus	£94.5m	£147.4m	1.6	22%
Freeline	£118.5m	£118.5m	1.0	0%
Gyroscope	£55.5m	£56.0m	1.0	0%
Sub-total
Developing
Achilles	£49.0m	£72.4m	1.5	61%
SwanBio	£17.8m	£18.7m	1.1	10%
Omass	£9.8m	£9.8m	1.0	0%
Anaveon	£3.7m	£3.9m	1.1	0%
Quell	£8.3m	£8.3m	1.0	0%
Realised companies
Nightstar	£56.4m	£255.8m	4.5	72%
Blue Earth	£35.3m	£351.0m	9.9	87%
Investments
Unrealised investments	£51.6m	£46.3m	0.9	-6%
Realised investments	£12.4m	£17.6m	1.4	27%
Total	£512.8m	£1,105.7m	2.2	47%

 

Valuation policy for life science investments and clinical trial disclosure process

Valuation policy for life science investments

The Group's investments in life science companies are, in the case of quoted companies, valued based on bid prices in an active market as at the reporting date.

In the case of the Group's investments in unlisted companies, the fair value is determined in accordance with the International Private Equity and Venture Capital ("IPEV") Valuation Guidelines. These include the use of recent arm's length transactions, Discounted Cash Flow ("DCF") analysis and earnings multiples. Wherever possible, the Group uses valuation techniques which make maximum use of market based inputs.

The following considerations are used when calculating the fair value of unlisted life science companies:

·	Cost is generally deemed to be fair value as of the transaction date. Similarly, where there has been a recent investment in the unlisted company by third parties, the Price of Recent Investment ("PRI") is generally deemed to be fair value as of the transaction date, although further judgement may be required to the extent that the instrument in which the recent investment was made is different from the instrument held by the Group.
·	The length of period for which it remains appropriate to deem cost or PRI fair value depends on the specific circumstances of the investment and the stability of the external environment and adequate consideration needs to be given to the current facts and circumstances. Where this calibration process shows there is objective evidence that an investment has been impaired or increased in value since the investment was made, such as observable data suggesting a change of the financial, technical or commercial performance of the underlying investment, the Group carries out an enhanced assessment based on one of the alternative methodologies set out in the IPEV Valuation Guidelines.
·	DCF involves estimating the fair value of an investment by calculating the present value of expected future cash flows, based on the most recent forecasts in respect of the underlying business. Given the difficulty involved with producing reliable cash flow forecasts for seed, start-up and early-stage companies, the DCF methodology will more commonly be used in the event that a life science company is in the final stages of clinical testing prior to regulatory approval or has filed for regulatory approval.
·	Independent Adviser - the Group's determination of the fair values of certain investments at 31 March 2019 took into consideration multiple sources including management and publicly available information and publications and certain input from independent advisers L.E.K. Consulting LLP ("L.E.K."), who have undertaken an independent review of certain investments and have assisted the Group with its valuation of such investments. The review was limited to certain limited procedures that the Group identified and requested it to perform within an agreed limited scope.
·	As with any review of investments these can only be considered in the context of the limited procedures and agreed scope defining such review and are subject to assumptions which may be forward looking in nature and subjective judgements. Upon completion of such limited agreed procedures, L.E.K. estimated an independent range of fair values of those investments subjected to the limited procedures. In making such a determination the Group considered the review as one of multiple inputs in the determination of fair value. The limited procedures within the agreed scope are limited by the information reviewed and did not involve an audit, review, compilation or any other form of verification, examination or attestation under generally accepted auditing standards and was based on the review of multiple defined sources. The Group is responsible for determining the fair value of the investments, and the agreed limited procedures in the review performed to assist the Group in its determination are supplementary to the inquiries and procedures that the Group is required to undertake to determine the fair value of the said investments for which the Directors are ultimately responsible.

Where the Group is the sole institutional investor and until such time as substantial clinical data has been generated, the cost or PRI will generally be deemed to be fair value subject to adequate consideration being given to current facts and circumstances. Once substantial clinical data has been generated the Group will use input from an independent valuations advisor to assist in the determination of fair value.

Valuation of the life science portfolio	% of life science portfolio	% of net assets
Calibrated Cost	45.0	16.2
Calibrated PRI	15.0	5.4
Quoted	31.0	11.2
Adjusted Price of Recent Investment	0.8	0.3
Third Party	8.2	2.9

 

Clinical trial disclosure process

Currently, Syncona's portfolio companies are progressing with seven clinical trials. These trials represent both a significant opportunity and risk for each company and for Syncona Ltd.

Unlike typical randomised controlled pharmaceutical clinical trials, currently all seven clinical trials are open-label trials. Open label trials are clinical studies in which both the researchers and the patients are aware of the drug being given. In some cases the number of patients in a trial may be relatively small. Data is generated as each patient is dosed with the drug in a trial and is collected over time as results of the treatment are analysed and, in the early stages of these studies, dose-ranging studies are completed.

Because of the trial design, clinical data in open-label trials is received by our portfolio companies on a frequent basis. However, individual data points need to be treated with caution, and it is typically only when all or substantially all of the data from a trial is available and can be analysed that meaningful conclusions can be drawn from that data about the prospect of success or otherwise of the trial. In particular it is highly possible that early developments (positive or negative) in a trial can be overtaken by later analysis with further data as the trial progresses.

Our portfolio companies may decide or be required to announce publicly interim clinical trial data, for example where the company or researchers connected with it are presenting at a scientific conference, and Syncona will generally also issue a simultaneous announcement about that clinical trial data. Syncona would also expect to announce its assessment of the results of a trial at the point we conclude on the data available to us that it has succeeded or failed. We would not generally expect to announce our assessment of interim clinical data in an ongoing trial otherwise, although we will review all such data to enable us to comply with our legal obligations such as under the EU Market Abuse Regulation or otherwise.

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

The principal risks and uncertainties facing the Company for the second half of the financial year are substantially the same as those disclosed in the Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2019. These include:

- Failure to attract or retain key personnel

- Risk in making early stage investments

- Clinical trial risks

- General, commercial and technological risks

- Dominance of portfolio by a few larger investments and/or sector focus

- Financing and exit risk

- Capital Pool risk

- Systems and controls

- Impact of political and economic uncertainty, and changes to law and regulation

 

Going Concern

The factors likely to affect the Company's ability to continue as a going concern were set out in the Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2019. As at 30 September 2019, there have been no significant changes to these factors. Having reviewed the Company's assets and liabilities and other relevant evidence, the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the 12 months following the approval of these half-yearly financial statements. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the half-yearly financial statements.

Statement of Directors' Responsibilities

 

The directors confirm that the interim financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 as adopted by the European Union and that the business review includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.7 and DTR 4.2.8, namely:

 

·      an indication of important events that have occurred during the first six months of the financial year and their impact on the interim financial statements, and a description of the principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the financial year; and

 

·      material related-party transactions in the first six months of the financial year and any material changes in the related-party transactions described in the last annual report.

 

The Directors of Syncona Limited are listed in the Syncona Limited Report & Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2019. A list of current directors is maintained on the Syncona Limited website: https://www.synconaltd.com/about-us/our-people?b=true#profiles.

 

Jeremy Tigue, Chairman, Syncona Limited

20 November 2019

 

INDEPENDENT REVIEW REPORT TO SYNCONA LIMITED

 

We have been engaged by the Company to review the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 September 2019 which comprises the Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income, Consolidated Statement of Financial Position, Consolidated Statement of Changes in Net Assets Attributable to Holders of Ordinary Shares, Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows and related notes 1 to 14. We have read the other information contained in the half-yearly financial report and considered whether it contains any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the information in the condensed set of financial statements

 

This report is made solely to the company in accordance with International Standard on Review Engagements (UK and Ireland) 2410 "Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity" issued by the Financial Reporting Council. Our work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company those matters we are required to state to it in an independent review report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the company, for our review work, for this report, or for the conclusions we have formed.

 

Directors' responsibilities

 

The half-yearly financial report is the responsibility of, and has been approved by, the directors.  The directors are responsible for preparing the half-yearly financial report in accordance with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority. As disclosed in note 2, the annual financial statements of the Group are prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union.  The condensed set of financial statements included in this half-yearly financial report has been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34 "Interim Financial Reporting" as adopted by the European Union.

 

Our responsibility

 

Our responsibility is to express to the Company a conclusion on the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report based on our review.

 

Scope of review

 

We conducted our review in accordance with International Standard on Review Engagements (UK and Ireland) 2410 "Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity" issued by the Financial Reporting Council for use in the United Kingdom. A review of interim financial information consists of making inquiries, primarily of persons responsible for financial and accounting matters, and applying analytical and other review procedures. A review is substantially less in scope than an audit conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) and consequently does not enable us to obtain assurance that we would become aware of all significant matters that might be identified in an audit. Accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion.

 

Conclusion

 

Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 September 2019 is not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34 as adopted by the European Union and the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority.

 

 

Deloitte LLP

St Peter Port, Guernsey

20 November 2019

 

 

GROUP PORTFOLIO STATEMENT

As at 30 September 2019

 

	Fair Value £'000		% of Group NAV 2019
Life science portfolio
Life science companies
Autolus Therapeutics plc	147,446		11.0
Freeline Therapeutics Limited	118,500		8.9
Achilles Therapeutics Limited	72,413		5.4
Gyroscope Therapeutics Limited	55,975		4.2
Swanbio Therapeutics Limited	18,712		1.4
Companies of less than 1% of NAV	29,209		2.2
Total life science companies	442,255		33.1
CRT Pioneer Fund	39,089		2.9
Total life science portfolio (1)	481,344		36.0
Capital pool investments
Fixed income funds	247,110		18.5
UK Treasury bills	479,678		35.9
Legacy funds	104,185		7.8
Open forward currency contracts	1,820		0.1
Total capital pool investments	832,793		62.3
Other net assets
Cash and cash equivalents (2)	39,053		2.9
Charitable donations	(2,020)		(0.2)
Other assets and liabilities	(14,368)		(1.0)
Total other net assets	22,665		1.7
Total net asset value of the Group	1,336,802		100.0

 

⁽¹⁾ The life science portfolio of £481,343,686 consists of life science investments totalling £442,254,200 held by Syncona Holdings Limited and the CRT Pioneer Fund of £39,089,486 held by Syncona Investments LP Incorporated.

 

⁽²⁾ Total cash held by the Group is £39,052,883. Of this amount £12,570 is held by Syncona Limited. The remaining £39,040,313 is held by its subsidiaries other than portfolio companies ("Syncona Group Companies").

 

Cash held by Syncona Group Companies is not shown in Syncona Limited's Consolidated Statement of Financial Position.

 

See note 1 for a description of Syncona Holdings Limited and Syncona Investments LP Incorporated.