Vela Technologies reports fall in total assets

(Sharecast News) - Early-stage technology investor Vela Technologies said in an update on Friday that its total assets, including cash, decreased by £0.64m or 9% during the December quarter, amounting to £6.18m. The AIM-traded firm said that marked a swing from the prior quarter's increase of £0.94m, or 16%, to £6.82m.

Its portfolio comprised 15 active investments, consistent with the prior quarter, and of those, two were unquoted and 13 were quoted.

Notably, Vela divested its investment in St George's Street Capital to Conduit Pharmaceuticals during the quarter, receiving 1,015,760 Conduit shares in exchange.

That investment, previously held as a financial asset, was now classified as an asset held for resale.

The fair value of Vela's investment portfolio stood at £6.17m, slightly lower than the prior quarter's value of £6.79m.

Vela said the change in the portfolio's value reflected the disposal of investments valued at approximately £40,000, resulting in a realised loss of £3,000, alongside a net unrealised decrease in fair value amounting to £0.58m.

That contrasted with the prior quarter's net unrealised gain of £1.04m.

Vela's cash balance at the end of December was £6,000, down from £30,000 at the end of the prior quarter.

As of Friday, Vela's cash balance stood at approximately £60,000.

"Much of the £0.9m+ leap forward in the value of Vela's investment portfolio in the September quarter has been reversed in the December quarter," said executive director James Normand.

"Vela's investment in EnSilica, a highly rated business, perversely fell in value by a third - though it has since recovered a good part of that drop - while Conduit's value is similarly a fraction of the price at which it listed in September."

Normand said Vela's performance and position remained impeded by the continued lack of confidence in the public markets generally, particularly in the small cap markets in which the firm is largely invested.

"Although Vela's investments are for the most part in listed stocks, there is little activity in these stocks and so their market values do not reflect our opinion of their true worth."

At 1233 GMT, shares in Vela Technologies were up 3.33% at 0.02p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.