Blue Planet Investment Trust Plc - Half-year Report to October 2021

Blue Planet Investment Trust plc
 

Half Year Report and Accounts
For the six months ended 31 October 2021

Officers and Advisors
Directors Russell Frith (Non-Executive Chairman) Victoria Killay (Non-Executive) Kenneth Murray (Non-Executive)	Investment Manager, Administrator and Secretary Blue Planet Investment Management Ltd 17 Grosvenor Crescent Edinburgh EH12 5EL Telephone No: 0131 466 66 66 E-mail: [e-mail] www.blueplanet.eu
Registered Office 17 Grosvenor Crescent Edinburgh EH12 5EL Telephone No: 0131 466 6666 E-mail: [e-mail] www.blueplanet.eu	Registrars Link Group 10th Floor, Central Square 29 Wellington Street Leeds LS1 4DL Email: [e-mail] www.linkgroup.eu Shareholder Helpline No: 0371 664 0300 (calls are charged at the standard geographic rate and will vary by provider. Calls outside the UK will be charged at the applicable international rate. Lines are open 9am-5.30pm, Mon-Fri)
Statutory Auditors Johnston Carmichael LLP 7-11 Melville Street Edinburgh EH3 7PE	Custodians Caceis Investor Services Broadwalk House, 5 Appold Street London EC2A 2AG
Bankers Lloyds Banking Group 1st Floor 48 Chiswell Street London EC1Y 4XX	Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Ltd Level 20 Heron Tower, 110 Bishopsgate London EC2N 4AY
Registered Number SC192153

Blue Planet Investment Trust plc is a member of the Association of Investment Companies.

Investment Policy

The investment policy of the Company is to invest in securities (including equities, exchange traded funds, equity-related securities, bonds, and derivatives) issued by companies, Governments and other types of issuers located throughout the world.

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Company is to provide shareholders with a combination of capital growth and income.

The Company has not set maximum exposures for any type of issuer, geographical regions or sectors. How the Company’s investments are allocated will depend on market conditions and the judgement of the Board as to what is in the best interests of Shareholders. This is to provide it with the flexibility that is necessary to deal with an ever-changing economic environment. It would, however, normally be expected that most of the Company’s investments will be in equities, exchange traded funds, equity-related securities, preference shares, bonds, bills and derivatives. However, the Company is not prohibited from investing in other types of securities including unlisted investments and property. No more than 15 per cent of the Company’s portfolio may be invested in any one investment at the time the investment is made. There is no restriction on the amount that may be invested in any one country.

Under the Company’s Articles of Association, the maximum gearing the Company may deploy is 75% of NAV. The Company may borrow in Sterling and other currencies.
 

Financial Record including Key Performance Indicators	Six months ended 31 October 2021 (unaudited)	Six months ended 31 October 2020 (unaudited)	Year ended 30 April 2021 (audited)
Total return per share (p)1	(3.64)	0.60	8.97
NAV total return per share (%)2	(10.0)	2.0	31.6
Share price total return (%) 3	(13.6)	(3.6)	30.1
Total return on Benchmark Index 4 (%)	5.8	(4.0)	22.1
Revenue return available for shareholders (£’000)	(246)	132	34
Revenue return per share (p)1	(0.49)	0.27	0.07
Capital return per share (p)1	(3.15)	(0.33)	8.90
Dividend per share (net) (p)5	-	-	0.52
Dividend yield on our shares (%)6	N/A	N/A	2.0
Dividend yield on Benchmark Index (%)	3.4	4.7	3.1
Total assets less current liabilities (excluding loans) (£’000)	20,561	15,510	19,952
Loans (£’000)	(4,635)	(1,668)	(1,967)
Shareholders’ funds (£’000)	15,926	13,842	17,985
Net asset value per share (p)7	32.19	27.98	36.35
Share price (p) – (Bid)	22.00	19.00	26.00
Share price discount to NAV (%)8	31.7	32.1	28.5
Gearing (%)9	27.7	11.1	7.6
Ongoing Charges (%) 10	4.6	4.6	4.5

The Board assesses the Company’s performance in meeting its objectives against the above KPIs, they also believe the above KPIs are of most relevance to shareholders in monitoring the performance of the Company and therefore the return on their investment in the Company.

1. Returns per share are calculated by taking the figure for “Return on ordinary activities after taxation and total comprehensive income” for each column as stated on the Income Statement and dividing by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period. (Note 3)
2. NAV total return per share is calculated as the percentage change in net asset value per share in the period with dividend paid during the period reinvested at the time of distribution.
3. Share price total return is calculated as the percentage change in share price in the period with dividend paid during the period reinvested at the time of distribution.
4. The Company’s benchmark index is an index of the top 100 listed companies in the UK, with dividends reinvested at the time of distribution. The percentage change in value between each period end is shown above.
5. No interim dividend is proposed. An annual dividend for the year ended 30 April 2021 was paid to shareholders on 6^th September 2021.
6. Dividend yield is dividend proposed/paid divided by share price (bid) at the period end.
7. Net asset value per share is calculated as shareholders’ funds divided by the number of ordinary shares in issue at the period end.
8. Calculated as the difference between net asset value per share and share price, divided by net asset value per share.
9. Net debt as a percentage of shareholders’ funds. Net debt is equal to total loans less cash at bank.
10. Ongoing charges figure has been prepared in accordance with the Association of Investment Companies (“AIC”) recommended methodology. Total administrative expenses, as stated on the income statement, is divided by average shareholders’ funds in the period.

The Investment Manager

Under the Alternative Investment Fund Management Directive legislation, the Trust has elected to be its own AIF manager but has delegated the day to day management of the investment portfolio and administration to Blue Planet Investment Management Ltd. It is an independent firm that specialises in advising and managing investment and family trusts. It has a great deal of expertise in managing investments on a worldwide basis. It is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Blue Planet Investment Management Ltd is the investment manager of the Company and receives an annual fee of 1.50% per annum of the total assets of the company which is paid monthly. Blue Planet Investment Management Ltd also receives £196,000 per annum in respect of administration and secretarial services. The investment management, administration and secretarial services agreements may only be terminated on receipt of two years notice.

Website Information

Please take the time to visit our website:

www.blueplanet.eu

Subscribe to our monthly fact sheet service and download past monthly fact sheets:

https://www.blueplanet.eu/monthly-factsheets

To download historical Annual and Interim reports:

https://www.blueplanet.eu/report-accounts

To view stock market RNS announcements:

https://www.blueplanet.eu/regulatory-news

Retail Distribution of Investment Company Shares

Blue Planet Investment Trust plc currently conducts its affairs so that the shares issued by the Company can be recommended by Independent Financial Advisers to ordinary retail investors in accordance with the Financial Conduct Authority’s rules in relation to non-mainstream investment products and intends to continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

The shares are excluded from the Financial Conduct Authority’s restrictions which apply to non-mainstream investment products because they are shares in an investment trust.

PRIIPS Key Information Documents

We are required by regulations to provide investors with a Key Information Document (“KID”) which includes performance projections which are the product of prescribed calculations based on the Company’s past performance. Whilst the content and format of the KID cannot be amended under the applicable regulations, the Board does not believe that these projections are an appropriate or helpful way to assess the Company’s future prospects. Accordingly, the Board urges shareholders to also consider the more complete information set out in the Annual Report and Accounts, together with the Company’s interim report and accounts, monthly fact sheets and net asset value announcements, when considering an investment in the Company’s shares. These documents are published on the investment managers website at www.blueplanet.eu

Interim Management Report – Portfolio Information

As at 31 October 2021
	Country	Valuation (£)	% of Portfolio
Equities
DigitalOcean Holdings Inc Dynatrace Inc Mogo Inc Digital Turbine Inc Repligen Corporation Palantir Technologies Inc Advanced Micro Devices Inc F5 Networks Inc Nokia Oyj CleanSpark Inc Applied Materials Inc Mirriad Advertising plc Teradyne Inc Lam Research Corporation Taiwan Semiconductor ADR Qualcomm Inc Arista Networks Inc. Illumina Inc Silvergate Capital Corp Riskified Ltd Micron Technology Inc STAAR Surgical Co ProQR Therapeutics NV CareCloud Inc Keysight Technologies Inc AcuityAds Holdings Inc Matterport Inc PubMatic Inc S4 Capital plc C3.ai Inc Twitter Inc Twist Bioscience Corp Moovly Media Inc Isoray Inc Invitae Corp Avacta Group plc MediWound Ltd Berkeley Lights Inc Revance Therapeutics Inc Caladrius Biosciences Inc TAAL Distributed Information Telford Offshore Holdings Ltd	United States United States United States United States United States United States United States United States United States United States United States United Kingdom United States United States United States United States United States United States United States United States United States United States United States United States United States Canada United States United States United Kingdom United States United States United States Canada United States United States United Kingdom United States United States United States United States Canada Cayman Islands	1,107,515  977,406  874,950  857,329  835,667  748,708  660,059  650,118  645,904  638,833  611,240  610,521  601,752  597,686  572,143  570,568  530,316  529,894  524,042  522,795  520,826  519,091  512,983  492,770  438,235  394,572  374,716  354,488  335,702  333,387  312,937  311,562  293,379  272,118  213,186  189,312  174,156  173,330  170,845  151,479  17,637  -	5.4 4.7 4.3 4.2 4.1 3.6 3.2 3.2 3.1 3.1 3.0 3.0 2.9 2.9 2.8 2.8 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.1 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.1 0.0
		20,224,157	98.1
Debt Securities
Telford Offshore 12% Perpetual	Cayman Islands	171,536	0.8
		171,536	0.8
Total Investments		20,395,693	98.9
Cash		223,636	1.1
Total		20,619,329	100.0

Interim Management Report

Performance

It has now been a full year since Blue Planet Investment Trust plc set out on a new path toward capital growth, having previously pursued a focus of income generation for several years. This change of strategy helped the Trust produce a Net Asset Value (NAV) total return for the year ending 30 April 2021 of +31.6%. Since the start of this financial year, the six months to 31 October 2021, our NAV total return was -10.0%. Below gives more detail on the reasons for this and how we have progressed to date.

Since 31 October 2020, our NAV rose from 27.98p to a high of 45.47p, a gain of 62.5% in the space of just a few months. From that high point, growth stocks fell out of favour with investors and consequently, our NAV fell 20.1% to 36.35p by the 30 April 2021. This was disappointing but still a +29.9% gain over that six-month period. In the current financial year our NAV has fallen, reaching a low of 29.43p before stabilizing as investors moved capital back into growth stocks and the portfolio recovered in the final months of the interim period, rising 9.4% to finish at 32.19p.

We began the current financial year with 96.0% invested in equities, 1.1% in bonds, 2.9% in cash and our gearing was at a conservative 7.6%. These exposures remained largely unchanged during this interim period, our investments in equities represented 98.1% of the portfolio, 0.8% in bonds, 1.1% in cash and our gearing stood at 27.7%.

We have continued to find new and interesting companies to invest in and have, and will, continue to refine the portfolio as the businesses we are invested in report earnings and provide updates. During the past six months, we bought Advanced Micro Devices Inc which manufacture CPU’s (Computer Processing Unit), GPU’s (Graphical Processing Unit) and chips for servers which has been gaining market share at the expense of Intel Corp. DigitalOcean Holdings Inc, now our top holding and was our best performing investment in the six months, is a cloud computing company with a focus on small and medium sized businesses. F5 Networks Inc, a networking company that is transitioning from a hardware business to a higher growth software business. Matterport Inc, a company that digitizes real-world spaces with 3D capture technology. Riskified Ltd, a company that uses artificial intelligence (algorithms) to analyse online orders for fraud, improving sales and reducing costs for its clients. Silvergate Capital Corp, a bank that has a focus on innovators, particularly in providing blockchain and digital currency services to clients. STAAR Surgical Co, a medical technology company that researches, develops, manufactures, distributes, and sells products for use in refractive surgery, and finally, Twitter Inc, the micro-blogging social media company has improved its monetization and is exploring the use of blockchain technology to decentralise its platform.

As regards to sales during the period, we sold Agora Inc, Alteryx Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Ciena Corporation, Digital Media Solutions Inc, Fastly Inc, IP Group plc, Luminar Technologies Inc, PagSeguro Digital Ltd, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, SSR Mining Inc and Ultra Clean Holdings Inc. Some of these companies failed to live up to our expectations whereas others were sold to reinvest in better opportunities.

In terms of how our investments performed, the largest positive contribution was from DigitalOcean Holdings Inc which had a total return during the period of +69.8%. This was followed by Dynatrace Inc +45.5%, Repligen Corporation +47.8%, Silvergate Capital Corp +51.9%, Palantir Technologies Inc +25.2%, Arista Networks Inc +28.4%, Nokia Oyj +22.9%, Digital Turbine Inc +15.8% and ProQR Therapeutics NV +25.1% all made material contributions.

Our best performer last year was Mogo Inc which had a total return of +319.9%. Perhaps not surprisingly after such a strong run up, it gave up some of those gains to become the biggest negative contributor to our performance during the past six months with a total return of -40.2%. There were no announcements of bad news, in fact the company continues to go from strength to strength and is forecast to grow revenues 28% this year and 36% next year. We believe Mogo is building a financial “super-app” providing its customers with saving, lending, bitcoin trading, investing options, B2B payments and a prepaid card. The average analyst target price for the stock is $11.45, representing almost 100% upside.

Other negative returns came from Mirriad Advertising plc, which returned +53.8% last year. It also saw profit taking and fell -33.6% in the current period. Moovly Media Inc, which fell 42.9% last year, continued to fall, returning -51.2% in the current period, evidently this is one we may have got wrong but given time, may still come good with the ever increasing use of video editing software. AcuityAds Holdings Inc, our third best contributor last year with a total return of +138.4%, fell -42.6% in the current period. PubMatic Inc produced a total return of +86.9% last year and fell -43.8% during this period. Avacta Group Plc returned +87.2% last year but fell -55.7% this year. As you will notice, many of the investments that performed so well last period have given back a large portion of their gains this period. The performance of these company’s shares hasn’t necessarily been due to underperforming underlying businesses, but rather a case of perhaps overshooting their valuations and now a period of consolidation is required before the next leg higher.

We would like to go into more detail on the progress of many of our investments, however as the interim report is generally a shorter report than our annual report, we will provide a brief summary of some of our top holdings. However, we would encourage you to take a look at the remaining positions within the top end of our portfolio as they are all interesting and exciting businesses that we think will all have bright futures.

Firstly, DigitalOcean Holdings Inc, a cloud computing company with a focus on small and medium sized businesses, recently reported Q3 2021 revenues grew 37% year-on-year, having previously reported revenue growth of 35% year-on-year in Q2 2021. The net loss attributable to shareholders has narrowed and the company is working its way towards profitability. In the most recent report, the loss was $1.8m for the quarter, which was a big improvement over the $10.2m loss in the same quarter last year. Forecast growth over the next two years is expected to be maintained at over 30% per year. DigitalOcean has grown to become our largest holding as at 31 October 2021 and we believe it has a large addressable market and many years of growth ahead of it.

Dynatrace Inc, our second largest holding, reported revenue growth of 34% year-on-year in their second quarter of FY 2022 and net income rose 3%. They reported revenue growth of 37% in the preceding quarter and net income growth of 35%. Dynatrace continues to provide the right tools to help businesses simplify and manage their digital transformation and migration to the cloud. Going forward, Dynatrace is expected to produce revenue growth of 30% next year followed by 25% the year after, with market penetration expected to be about 20% in 2022 from 5% in 2018. The business continues to perform well and we are pleased with their progress.

Mogo Inc, as mentioned above, is building a financial “super-app” providing its customers with saving, lending, bitcoin trading, investing options, B2B payments and a prepaid card. They reported revenue growth in the most recent quarter of 58% year-on-year, an acceleration from 29% in the previous quarterly report. Net loss increased to $9.8m from $1.0m in the previous year and while this might not seem ideal, the company is spending on developing their product as well as on sales and marketing to promote their products and we believe once they have launched their full suite of financial offerings, profits will begin to be generated. In particular, the imminent launch of MogoTrade should provide a new source of income. Going forward, the company has guided for increasing revenues and the market in general is expecting growth of 33% next year and 36% the year after.

Digital Turbine Inc was originally a mobile app pre-install business but following acquisitions including most recently Fyber and AdColony, the company has become a mobile advertising, discovery and install business. The company recently reported Q2 2022 revenue growth of 338% year-on-year, whilst on a pro-forma basis, revenue growth was 63%. Acquisition related adjustments meant that the net loss in the quarter was $5.9m, however the company is otherwise profitable. In fact, in the previous quarter, net income was $14.3m, a 44% increase year-on-year. Revenue growth in that quarter was 104% on a pro forma basis. We think Digital Turbine is currently underappreciated and we think that once the acquisitions are integrated, investors will be better positioned to assess the future of the company and price estimates will rise.

Over the past year, we believe we have constructed an exciting and interesting portfolio that gives our shareholders exposure to innovative, high growth companies and more importantly differentiation from your typical tracker funds that have Apple, Amazon and Alphabet as their top holdings. We believe investors can get exposure to those names quite easily by buying shares in those companies themselves, or by buying a tracker fund. Buying shares of Blue Planet Investment Trust plc gives our shareholders exposure to a managed fund with a new capital growth focus which we believe will, over the longer term, provide solid returns. Volatility will continue as the market deals with the impending tapering of quantitative easing by central banks, rising inflation, supply chain bottlenecks and eventually rising interest rates. We think there is no alternative to equities at this moment in time for investors to get a reasonable return on their investment. Cash offers little or no return and is losing purchasing power through inflation. Bonds are riskier now than they have ever been with the real returns on most being negative. Commodities may well provide protection from inflation but do not offer much in terms of investment returns. In 2021 to date, the S&P 500 Index is up around 25% and historically speaking, it has provided an average annual return over the last 20 years of about 10% per year. As long as we remain disciplined, patient and invest in the right companies, our shareholders will see our NAV appreciate and with that, our share price will grow providing you with capital growth over the long term.

GICS Industry Classification	% of Portfolio
Software	27.8%
Semiconductors	20.6%
Life Sciences Tools	10.2%
Communications	9.1%
Biotechnology	8.2%
Media	8.0%
Consumer Finance	4.4%
Interactive Media	3.4%
Health Care Technology	2.5%
Electronic Equipment	2.2%
Pharmaceuticals	1.7%
Cash	1.1%
Corporate Debt	0.9%
	100.0

*October 2021

Income and Dividends

A dividend of 0.52p per share was paid on 6^th September 2021 in respect of the financial year ended 30^th April 2021. In accordance with established policy no interim dividend has been declared for the first half of the year.

Gearing and Capital Allocation

At the end of the six-month period to 31^st October 2021 the Trust had gearing, net of cash, equal to 27.7% of NAV and its portfolio was allocated as follows: 98.1% was invested in equities; 1.1% in cash and 0.8% in bonds.

Principal risks and going concern

Your Company is, and will continue to be, exposed to a number of risks which are detailed in full in the Strategic Report on page 7 of the Annual Report and have not changed up to the date of this report. The key market risk arises from the uncertainty regarding the future price performance of the listed securities held by your Company and can be affected by any number of unforeseen external events such as Brexit and the global pandemic. If gearing is employed this risk is magnified.

The prices of the individual listed securities in the portfolio are monitored on a daily basis and the Board, which meets quarterly, imposes borrowing limits to ensure gearing levels are appropriate to market conditions.

When gearing is employed the potential impact of changes in interest rates is taken into consideration. All investments are listed on recognised exchanges, traded in active markets and readily realisable, with the exception of holdings in Telford Offshore Holdings Ltd, which are unlisted. See note 5 on page 12 for the valuation basis of these 2 holdings.

The Fund is exposed to currency risk, due to the range of currencies in which investments are held. A substantial proportion of the Company’s assets are held in assets denominated in foreign currencies and movements in these currencies can significantly affect the Sterling value of the Company’s foreign denominated income and assets. The fund manager tracks currency movements on a regular basis and hedging is considered on a case-by-case basis.

The Company has no cyber systems of its own; instead, it outsources the provision of services to third party providers who themselves, like any company, are exposed to cyber risk. This risk is monitored by a regular review of service providers by the Company Secretary who reports directly to the Board of Directors.

Where investments are made in emerging markets there is a risk of higher volatility in the price performance of these equities and their associated currencies. Political risk and adverse economic circumstances are more likely to arise, putting the value of the investment at a higher risk. The registration and settlement arrangements in emerging markets may be less developed than in more mature markets so operational risks of investing are higher.

The Company’s business model and strategy, together with the risk factors likely to affect its future position are set out in the Strategic Report on page 9 of the Annual Report and Accounts. The Directors consider that the Company has adequate financial resources in the form of readily realisable listed securities, including cash and credit facilities to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to use the going concern basis in preparing the accounts

Related party transactions

There have been no changes to related party transactions which were disclosed in the Directors Report on page 35 of the Annual Report.

Borrowings, Gearing and Liquidity

The Fund ended the period with gearing net of cash of 27.7%. The Company financed its gearing by means of credit facilities with Interactive Brokers Incorporated.

Generally, gearing beneficially affects the Company’s NAV when the value of its investments is rising, but adversely affects it when the value of investments is falling.

Blue Planet Services and Price Information Sources

Shareholders can view the Company’s share price and additional information about the Fund on the website of Blue Planet Investment Management Ltd (www.blueplanet.eu) and the London Stock Exchange (www.londonstockexchange.com). To find the Company’s share price on the London Stock Exchange website go to the Home page and type “BLP” in the “Price Search” field.

Russell Frith

Chairman

07 December 2021

Balance Sheet

	At 31 October 2021 £ (unaudited)	At 31 October 2020 £ (unaudited)	At 30 April 2021 £ (audited)
Fixed assets (note 5)
Equity investments	20,224,157	7,915,765	20,035,142
Non - equity investments	171,536	7,426,821	230,876
	20,395,693	15,342,586	20,266,018
Current assets
Debtors	30,898	123,314	39,740
Cash at bank and in hand	223,636	125,678	599,416
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (note 6)	(4,724,596)	(1,749,707)	(2,920,312)
Net current liabilities	(4,470,062)	(1,500,715)	(2,281,156)
Net assets	15,925,631	13,841,871	17,984,862
Capital and reserves
Called-up share capital	497,820	497,820	497,820
Share premium account	18,426,406	18,426,406	18,426,406
Other reserves
Capital reserve – realised	(12,305,773)	(9,431,933)	(11,655,673)
Capital reserve – investment holding (losses) / gains	(272,277)	(5,831,045)	634,057
Capital redemption reserve	8,167,389	8,167,389	8,167,389
Revenue reserve	1,412,066	2,013,234	1,914,863
Shareholders’ funds	15,925,631	13,841,871	17,984,862
Net asset value per ordinary share (note 3)	32.19p	27.98p	36.35p

Statement of Directors’ responsibilities

The Directors confirm that this set of condensed financial statements has been prepared in accordance with FRS 104 “Interim Financial Reporting” and that the interim management report herein includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.7R and DTR 4.2.8R.

On behalf of the Board

Russell Frith

Chairman

07 December 2021

Statement of Changes in Equity

For the six months ended 31 October 2021 (unaudited)
	Called-up Share capital (£)		Share premium (£)		Capital reserve-realised (£)			Capital reserve- investment holding losses (£)		Capital Redemption reserve (£)		Revenue reserve (£)		Shareholders’   funds (£)
Shareholders’ funds at 1 May 2021	497,820		18,426,406		(11,655,673)			634,057		8,167,389		1,914,863		17,984,862
Return on ordinary activities after taxation	-		-		(650,100)			(906,334)		-		(245,528)		(1,801,962)
Dividend paid during the period	-		-		-			-		-		(257,269)		(257,269)
Shareholders’ funds at 31 October 2021	497,820		18,426,406		(12,305,773)			(272,277)		8,167,389		1,412,066		15,925,631
For the six months ended 31 October 2020 (unaudited)
		Called-up Share capital (£)		Share premium (£)		Capital reserve-realised (£)			Capital reserve- investment holding losses (£)		Capital Redemption reserve (£)		Revenue reserve (£)			Shareholders’ funds (£)
Shareholders’ funds at 1 May 2020		497,820		18,426,406		(10,479,419)			(4,949,642)		8,167,389		2,979,620			14,642,174
Return on ordinary activities after taxation		-		-		1,047,486			(881,403)		-		131,956			298,039
Dividend paid during the period		-		-		-			-		-		(1,098,342)			(1,098,342)
Shareholders’ funds at 31 October 2020		497,820		18,426,406		(9,431,933)			(5,831,045)		8,167,389		2,013,234			13,841,871

   

For the year ended 30 April 2021 (audited)
	Called-up Share capital (£)	Share premium (£)	Capital reserve-realised (£)	Capital reserve- investment holding losses (£)	Capital Redemption reserve (£)	Revenue reserve (£)	Shareholders’ funds (£)
Shareholders’ funds at 1 May 2020	497,820	18,426,406	(10,479,419)	(4,949,642)	8,167,389	2,979,620	14,642,174
Return on ordinary activities after taxation	-	-	(1,176,254)	5,583,699	-	33,585	4,441,030
Dividend paid during the period	-	-	-	-	-	(1,098,342)	(1,098,342)
Shareholders’ funds at 30 April 2021	497,820	18,426,406	(11,655,673)	634,057	8,167,389	1,914,863	17,984,862

Income Statement
 

	For the six months ended 31 October 2021 (unaudited)			For the six months ended 31 October 2020 (unaudited)			For the year ended 30 April 2021 (audited)
	Revenue                    £	Capital                 £	Total                £	Revenue   £	Capital                 £	Total                £	Revenue                 £	Capital                    £	Total              £
Capital (losses) / gains on investment
Net (losses) / gains	-	(1,374,481)	(1,374,481)	-	208,213	208,213	-	5,246,122	5,246,122
Exchange losses	-	(65,113)	(65,113)	-	(4,246)	(4,246)	-	(621,128)	(621,128)
Net capital gains / (losses) on investment	-	(1,439,594)	(1,439,594)	-	203,967	203,967	-	4,624,994	4,624,994
Income from investments	22,763	-	22,763	459,008	-	459,008	588,972	-	588,972
Bank interest receivable	-	-	-	11	-	11	72	-	72
Gross revenue and capital (losses) / gains	22,763	(1,439,594)	(1,416,831)	459,019	203,967	662,986	589,044	4,624,994	5,214,038
Administrative expenses	(260,674)	(106,065)	(366,739)	(310,634)	(36,965)	(347,599)	(526,225)	(202,466)	(728,691)
Net return before interest payable and taxation	(237,911)	(1,545,659)	(1,783,570)	148,385	167,002	315,387	62,819	4,422,528	4,485,347
Interest payable	(4,618)	(10,775)	(15,393)	(2,144)	(919)	(3,063)	(6,464)	(15,083)	(21,547)
Return on ordinary activities before taxation	(242,529)	(1,556,434)	(1,798,963)	146,241	166,083	312,324	56,355	4,407,445	4,463,800
Taxation on ordinary activities	(2,999)	-	(2,999)	(14,285)	-	(14,285)	(22,770)	-	(22,770)
Return on ordinary activities after taxation and total comprehensive income	(245,528)	(1,556,434)	(1,801,962)	131,956	166,083	298,039	33,585	4,407,445	4,441,030
Return per ordinary share (note 3)	(0.49)p	(3.15)p	(3.64)p	0.27p	0.33p	0.60p	0.07p	8.90p	8.97p

The Total column of the income statement represents the profit & loss account of the Company.

All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing operations.

There were no recognised gains and losses other than those disclosed above. Accordingly, a statement of total recognised gains and losses is not required.

Notes

1.         The financial statements for the six months to 31^st October 2021 have been prepared on the basis of the accounting policies set out in the Company’s Annual Report and Accounts as at 30^th April 2021 and in accordance with FRS 104 “Interim Financial Reporting” and applicable to UK law and accounting standards.

2.        All expenses are charged to the revenue account with the exception of management fees and interest charges on borrowings, 70% of which, less the appropriate tax relief, is charged to capital. Investment Management and Administrators fees totalled £249,603 in the period (Full year to 30 April 2021 - £485,237) 

3.        The return per ordinary share is based upon the following figures:

	31 October 2021 (unaudited)	31 October 2020 (unaudited)	30 April 2021 (audited)
Revenue return	£(245,529)	£131,956	£33,585
Capital return	£(1,556,434)	£166,083	£4,407,445
Weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period	49,474,863	49,474,863	49,474,863

 The net asset value per ordinary share is calculated on 49,474,863 ordinary shares in issue at the end of the period after deducting treasury shares.

4.        No interim dividend is proposed.

5.        The carrying value of investments is equivalent to their fair value and all investments are measured at fair value through profit or loss, are quoted in active markets and classified as level one, with the exception of Telford Offshore Holding Ltd Perpetual an unquoted bond which management have judged to be valued at 30% of par value and is classified as level three and Telford Offshore Holdings Ltd ordinary shares which have been written down to nil value on the same basis.

6.        The Company has credit facilities with Interactive Brokers Incorporated. Loans are secured against the investments held in custody accounts.  As at 31st October 2021 the prevailing rate of interest on the facility with Interactive Brokers Incorporated was 0.8%.  At 31 October 2021, the amount outstanding with this facility was £4,635,069 (31st October 2020 - £1,667,843)

7.        The total number of shares held in treasury is 307,125. These shares have no voting rights, do not rank for dividend and are excluded from the calculation of net asset value and return per ordinary share. At 31st October 2021, the Company had the authority to purchase a further 7,467,000 of its own shares. A resolution to renew this authority will be proposed at the Annual General Meeting in 2022.

8.        The figures and financial information for the year ended 30th April 2021 are extracted from the latest published accounts of the Company and do not constitute statutory accounts for the period as defined in section 434 of the Companies Act 2006. Those accounts have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and include the report of the auditors which was unqualified and did not contain a statement either under section 498(2) or 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006. The half yearly Report and Accounts have not been audited or reviewed by the Company’s Auditors.