HgCapital Trust is “more confident” about its portfolio than 12 months ago as it confirmed £70m of cash has been returned to the Trust in 2014 to date, including four buyout exits.
The investment trust, which provides investors with a listed vehicle to invest in all private equity deals managed by HgCapital, reported net asset value (NAV) of £455m in the first six months of the year.
The NAV per ordinary share at June 30 2014 was £12.18, with a total return over the half-year of 5.8 per cent.
It highlighted that £72m has been deployed on behalf of the trust so far this year, principally in five buyout investments, including Visma, Zenith, Ullink, Relay Software and Sequel Business Solutions.
Cash returned to HgCapital Trust in the period came from four buyout exits, including Visma, Schleich, Manx Telecom, and Americana, with a further £8.4m expected to be returned following completion of the sale of Voyage.
The manager stated that “we feel more confident about our portfolio than we did 12 months ago and we are working hard to further improve the operational performance of our companies, the effects of this are yet to be fully reflected in our valuations”.
The board has approved a special dividend of 19 pence per share to be paid on September 26 which reflects a one-off dividend receipt from Visma.
Chairman Roger Mountford added: “Strong trading and profitable realisations over the first half of 2014 have driven solid NAV growth with further deployment into new and bolt-on investments building a store of value for future returns.”
