VCT regulations starting to squeeze
Article Date: Sep 18 2007The overall VCT market declined by approximately two- thirds in the year to April 2007, reflecting the changes to the VCT regulations announced in the past two Budgets, states Aberdeen Growth Opportunities VCT 2.
Regulations introduced in the 2007 Budget are particularly onerous, argues Aberdeen, focusing as they do on the maximum number of staff that can be employed in addition to placing a limit on the amount which can be raised under venture capital schemes by the investee company.
Its latest set of interims show total return (net asset value plus dividends paid) from ordinary shares by 2.9 per cent to 117.5p per share for the six months to 30 June 2007.
The NAV per ordinary share at 30 June 2007 was 111.5p, compared with 112.2p at 31 December 2006, following the payment of dividends of 3.5p and 0.5p in January and May 2007 respectively, which brought the total of dividends paid to date to 6p per share.
Aberdeen observes that its latest fundraisings, notably the S Share which pooled £5 million, will not be affected by the new regulations as it preceded April 2007.
