Venture capital trust Molten Ventures saw its net asset value plummet by five per cent over the last year, as the company hopes that a resurgence in private equity may be on the horizon.
In the company’s annual results dated to 31 March, it revealed that once taking into account paid dividends, it had returned a loss of 6.8 per cent throughout the year.
After raising £18.5m throughout the year, the company made £16.4m in investments throughout the year, with £12.1m invested in five new companies.
These included £3.2m in software developer Morressier GmbH, £2.6m in healthcare platform Amina Group, and £2.5m in Milio Healthcare, an immune system bio-diagnostics firm.
There were “no successful exits in the period”, the fund’s manager added.
However, today’s results fail to account for the sharp rise in the portfolio that has occurred since mid-April, with the trust’s stock price rising by 50 per cent in the last three months.
The trust has suffered over the last three years, with its share price still down by two thirds since its September 2021 high.
In April, Molten Ventures reported that it had started to forecast a “meaningful” recovery in realisations, and expected its net asset value to begin to stabilise.
This was also the rhetoric of the group in its annual results, with chair David Brock stating: “With some market recovery there are signs that the trough in private equity technology valuations may now be behind us.
“M&A activity is on the increase, and the board believes that the portfolio contains many investments with exciting prospects that should be able to take advantage of improving sentiment.”
Nevertheless, Molten Ventures VCT still has a way to go. The trust has one of the largest gaps between trading price and underlying assets of any in the sector, and has only returned six per cent in the last five years, compared to a sector average of 21.7 per cent.