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Albion Technology & General VCT PLC - Interim Management Statement

Albion Technology & General VCT PLC Interim Management Statement

Introduction
I present Albion Technology & General VCT PLC (the "Company")'s interim management statement for the period from 1 January 2015 to 19 May 2015.

Performance and dividends
The Company's unaudited net asset value (NAV), as at 31 March 2015 was £64.52 million or 80.44 pence per share (excluding treasury shares), a decrease of 1.16 pence per share or 1.4 per cent. since 31 December 2014 after accounting for the first dividend of 1.25 pence per share which was paid on 9 February 2015 to shareholders on the register as at 16 January 2015. The decline was mainly due to a fall in the share price of the AiM quoted Mi-Pay Group plc, which has since partially recovered (the bid price of those shares having fallen from 32p to 23p and recovered to 28p).

A second dividend of 1.25 pence per share was paid on 30 April 2015 to shareholders on the register as at 10 April 2015.

Share issues
During the period from 1 January 2015 to 19 May 2015, the Company issued a total of 5,539,903 new Ordinary shares under the Albion VCTs Prospectus Top Up Offers 2014/2015. These issues raised net proceeds of £4.49 million, which is made up as follows:

Date Number of shares issued Issue price per share (including costs of issue) Net proceeds £'000
30 January 2015 1,185,345 81.40 pence 945
30 January 2015 565,178 81.80 pence 451
2 April 2015 3,789,380 84.20 pence 3,095
Total 5,539,903   4,491

The proceeds of the Offer are being used to provide further resources to the Company at a time when a number of attractive new investment opportunities are being seen.

A Securities Note which forms part of the Prospectus can be found on the website www.albion-ventures.co.uk. The Offer will close on 30 September 2015 (unless fully subscribed earlier).

In addition, the following shares were issued under the dividend reinvestment scheme:

Date Number of
shares issued
Issue price per share Net proceeds £'000
9 February 2015 134,362 79.69 pence 105
30 April 2015 158,319 80.35 pence 125

Share buy-backs
During the period from 1 January 2015 to 19 May 2015, the Company purchased 1,330,000 shares for £1.0 million at an average price of 75.25 pence per share. All of the shares are to be held in treasury.

It remains the Board's policy to buy back shares in the market, subject to the overall constraint that such purchases are in the Company's interest, including the maintenance of sufficient resources for investment in existing and new portfolio companies and the continued payment of dividends to shareholders. As mentioned in the Chairman's statement of the latest Annual Report, the Company intends to limit the sum available for share buy-backs for the six month period to 30 June 2015 to £1,000,000. The buy-back limit has therefore been reached.

It is the Board's intention for such buy-backs to be at around a 5 per cent. discount to net asset value, so far as market conditions and liquidity permit.

Portfolio
The following investments have been made during the period from 1 January 2015 to 19 May 2015:

Further investments £000's Activity
Radnor House School (Holdings) Limited 1,716 Independent schools for children aged 7-18
Chonais Holdings Limited 774 Hydropower project in Scotland
Green Highland Renewables (Ledgowan) Limited 763 Hydropower project in Scotland
Mi-Pay Group plc 311 Provider of mobile payment services
TEG Biogas (Perth) Limited 248 An anaerobic digestion plant
Abcodia Limited 155 Validation and discovery of serum biomarkers
Rostima Holdings Limited 111 Provider of labour management software for the marine and aviation industries
Oxsensis Limited 107 Provider of industrial sensors for use in super-high temperature environments
Cisiv Limited 98 Software and services for non-interventional clinical trials
Proveca Limited 56 Repositioning of paediatric medicines
Silent Herdsman Holdings Limited 54 Remote animal health monitoring
Exco Intouch Limited 50 Provider of mobile patient data solutions
Regenerco Renewable Energy Limited 43 Generator of renewable energy from rooftop solar installations
AVESI Limited 13 Generator of renewable energy from rooftop solar installations
Total further investments 4,499  

Disposals and loan stock repayments
The following disposals and loan stock repayments were made during the period from 1 January 2015 to 19 May 2015:

Portfolio company £000's  
Orchard Portman Group 4,102 Disposal of investment
Infinite Ventures (Goathill Limited) 1,050 Loan stock repayment
Radnor House School (Holdings) Limited 25 Loan stock and capitalised interest repayment
Hilson Moran Holdings Limited 7 Loan stock and redemption premium repayment
The Dunedin Pub Company VCT Limited 1 Final proceeds on disposal
Total proceeds 5,185  

Top ten holdings as at 31 March 2015:

Investment Carrying value
£000's
% of net asset value Activity
Radnor House School (Holdings) Limited 6,672 10.3% Independent schools for children aged 7-18
Blackbay Limited 4,950 7.7% Provider of mobile data solutions
Lowcosttravelgroup Limited 4,783 7.4% Online travel business
Kensington Health Clubs Limited 3,997 6.2% Owner and operator of a health and fitness club in West London
Process Systems Enterprise Limited 3,193 4.9% Process modelling software and services
Bravo Inns II Limited 2,641 4.1% Owner and operator of freehold pubs
The Weybridge Club Limited 2,512 3.9% Owner and operator of a health and fitness club in Weybridge, Surrey
The Charnwood Pub Company Limited 2,168 3.4% Owner and operator of freehold pubs
AMS Sciences Limited 2,018 3.1% Provider of metabolism data in clinical and pre-clinical development
memsstar Limited 1,954 3.0% Semiconductor equipment remanufacturer and services provider

A full breakdown of the Company's portfolio can be found on the funds website under current portfolio at www.albion-ventures.co.uk/ourfunds/AATG.htm, by following the 'Portfolio of Investments' link under the 'Investor Centre' section.

Material events and transactions
There have been no further significant events or transactions that the Board is aware of which would have a material impact on the financial position of the Company between 1 January 2015 to 19 May 2015.

Further information
The Company continues to offer a Dividend Reinvestment Scheme to existing shareholders. Details of this Scheme can be found at www.albion-ventures.co.uk/ourfunds/AATG.htm.

Further information regarding historic and current financial performance and other useful shareholder information can be found on the Fund's webpage under www.albion-ventures.co.uk/ourfunds/AATG.htm.

Dr. Neil Cross, Chairman
19 May 2015
For further information please contact:
Patrick Reeve, Albion Ventures LLP - tel: 020 7601 1850




This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Albion Technology & General VCT PLC - Ordinary Shares via Globenewswire

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