Company Announcements

CT Private Equity Trust PLC

Quarterly results for the three months ended 31 March 2025 (unaudited)

·      Net asset value of 693.40 pence per share as at 31 March 2025.

·      A net asset value total return for the three-month period of -0.8%.

·      Quarterly dividend of 7.01 pence per Ordinary Share payable on 31 July 2025.

·      Dividend yield of 6.1% based on the period end share price. ∞

∞ Calculated as dividends of 7.01 pence paid on 31 October 2024, 7.01 pence paid on 31 January 2025, 7.01 pence paid on 30 April 2025 and 7.01 pence payable on 31 July 2025 divided by the Company's share price of 459.00 pence as at 31 March 2025.

Manager's Review

Introduction

As at 31 March 2025 the net assets of the Company were £495.8 million giving a Net Asset Value per share of 693.40 pence which, taking account of the dividend of 7.01 pence paid on 31 January 2025, gives a total return for the quarter of -0.8%. This valuation is largely based on 31 December 2024 marks with only 3.5% of 31 March 2025 valuations included.

The share price total return for the quarter was -4.6%. The discount to NAV at quarter end was 33.8%, narrowing slightly to 30.9% at the time of writing.

At 31 March 2025 the Company had net debt of £90.4 million. The outstanding undrawn commitments were £182.4 million of which £28.7 million is to funds where the investment period has expired.

A dividend of 7.01 pence was paid on 30 April 2025. In accordance with the Company's dividend policy the next dividend will be 7.01 pence which will be paid on 31 July 2025 to shareholders on the register on 4 July 2025 with an ex-dividend date of 3 July 2025.

New Investments

Only one new investment was made in the quarter.

€2.1 million was invested in the Finnish IT services company Frendy. This is a co-investment alongside Procuritas, the long-established Nordic mid-market specialist. Frendy was formed by Procuritas in 2021 through the amalgamation of 10 companies with the aim of consolidating the fragmented IT services market in Finland. The original investment thesis has taken longer than expected and an opportunity arose for us to invest below the original entry price. Growth is now coming through driven by the transition to the cloud and strong demand for cyber-security. More companies have been added to the group and a growing proportion of revenues are on a recurring subscription basis. This is expected to be a shorter hold. CT Private Equity Trust holds 6.7% of the business.

The funds in the portfolio have added a number of interesting investments during the quarter. Software experts Axiom have called £1.8 million for Project Enola, a UK based investigation management and intelligence platform whose cloud based software is used by governments, police and investigation teams within corporates. SEP VI has called £1.4 million for two companies; Springtime, an Austrian accounts payable software company and Restrata a UK based critical event and business resilience software provider. Following the ubiquitous software theme, Volpi III has called £1.2 million for two companies; Bluestar, a Danish product life cycle software company and Telematrix, an Austrian provider of software for public transport. Verdane Edda invested £0.8 million across two platforms: Eversports a DACH focused software and sports facilities bookings platform; and Corlytics a regulatory intelligence and policy management software for financial services institutions and other regulated industries. In the consumer sector Piper Private Equity have called £0.6 million for Yard Sale Pizza, a chain of 14 shops in London which also delivers by e-bike and partners with 160 pubs and bars across London. The plan is to roll out the brand across London and other cities.

In North America Level 5 Fund II and Purpose Brands called £0.8 million for medical spa company Heyday. The company has 39 shops providing services such as dermaplaning and laser facials. TorQuest VI called £1.0 million for its first two investments; Mevotech is involved in the engineering, design and distribution of driveline, steering and suspension parts for the auto aftermarket; Athos is a funerary services company based in Quebec which is aiming to consolidate the fragmented Canadian market.

The total invested in new companies by way of co-investment and funds in the quarter was £15.7 million which was up 16% on Q4 2024 but down by 33% compared with the first quarter of 2024.

Realisations

Although the private equity market slowed somewhat as we entered 2025, there were a number of diverse exits or partial exits across the portfolio.

The largest inflow was of £3.1 million from our co-investment in electrical components company Sigma which has been recapitalised with a partial return to investors. The company had been in a sale process, but this will likely be paused as the impact of potential tariffs is assessed. So far, the additional costs have successfully been passed through to customers via price rises, however the longer term impact on demand in the company's end markets may take time to become clear.

Blue Point III returned £1.2 million (6.9x cost and 32% IRR) with the sale of industrial services contractor Sylvan, which provides design, installation and maintenance of industrial projects for clients in a range of sectors across North America. This company was held for seven years and built profits through derisking the supply chain by strategic acquisitions. Interestingly it was bought and sold for around 4.0x EBITDA.

Primary IV returned £1.1 million (3.6x cost and 21% IRR) with the sale of speciality signage company Metamark. MVM VI returned £1.1 million (4.0x cost and 216% IRR) from Gynesonics the developer of a minimally invasive medical device, Sonata, which is used for the treatment of uterine fibroids. Following a short hold of just 15 months the company was sold to Nasdaq listed Hologic. Vaaka III returned £0.9 million through a recapitalisation of Framery, the Finland based provider of sound proof office pods and workspaces.

There were a number of other exits bringing the total for the quarter to £10.3 million. This compares with £14.1 million in Q4 2024 and £16.1 million in Q1 2024.

Valuation Movements

There were very few significant movements in valuation in the first quarter. Only 3.5% of the valuations were based on March 2025 marks with the remainder based on December 2024 valuations. This is not unusual as the valuation is compiled only a few weeks after the full year reports from our investments have been finalised.

There were two helpful positives from US funds Graycliff IV and Blue Point III which were up by £0.6 million and £0.4 million respectively, as a result of recent exits. On the negative side Italian focused fund Wise Equity VI was down by £0.7 million due to some pressures in the portfolio from the weaker economic background. It is still quite early in the life of the fund.

Financing

At 31 March 2025 the Company had net debt of £90.4 million. This is up from £76.5 million at 31 December 2024 but on a twelve-month basis is down by around £9 million. In the quarter total realisations were below the total of new investments by £5.4 million. The level of gearing at 31 March 2025 was 15.4%. The Company retains around £55 million of headroom in its borrowing facility and the current debt level is eminently manageable. The small dip in the first quarter's NAV is normal and in line with previous years.

Outlook

The private equity sector, in common with all other investment asset classes, has monitored the economic announcements from the US in recent weeks. Specifically attention has been paid to the proposed tariffs which have broken the long-standing paradigm that largely free trade is a desirable economic objective likely to bring increased prosperity to the greatest number of people. Apart from the adverse economic consequences, which are widely expected to follow, subsequent changes in the proposed tariffs have engendered an unusual degree of uncertainty. Even though many private equity backed companies are not directly affected by US trade tariffs, this kind of economic intervention and high level of uncertainty is not good for deal-making. Unsurprisingly we have seen some planned exits being postponed as buyers pause to consider whether the target company will be affected or not. Uncertainty also influences fund investors who are considering committing long term capital to the asset class with the current situation providing the perfect justification for holding off on new commitments. Most private equity investors are attracted to companies and sectors with clear long-term growth drivers provided that investment can be made at a price which adequately reflects the risks of the planned growth being achieved. There are likely to be changes in the value of private companies with some winners as well as losers and other factors such as flight to quality coming into play over the coming months.

Private equity is one of the most deliberative of investment management disciplines with investors not committing capital until they are in full possession of the facts and have made a full assessment of the future of a company. This research usually takes several months or even years before an investment is made. Once an investment has been made it cannot be easily reversed if the market or the economic environment changes dramatically. Private equity does however possess the ability to work with the management of investee companies to tackle any challenges and in adverse or uncertain periods the first priority of private equity managers is to support and assist their existing portfolio. Your portfolio is unusually diverse covering hundreds of companies internationally with exposure to multiple sectors and their associated economic trends and drivers. This diversification has proven to be a strength historically and it will doubtless prove to be of benefit now in protecting and building shareholder value. From here we expect that after a period of assessment the improvement in private equity activity levels which we saw during 2024 will resume.

Hamish Mair

Investment Manager

Columbia Threadneedle Investment Business Limited

Portfolio Summary

Portfolio Holdings

CT PRIVATE EQUITY TRUST PLC

Statement of Comprehensive Income for the

three months ended 31 March 2025 (unaudited)

CT PRIVATE EQUITY TRUST PLC

Statement of Comprehensive Income for the

three months ended 31 March 2024 (unaudited)

CT PRIVATE EQUITY TRUST PLC

Statement of Comprehensive Income for the

year ended 31 December 2024 (audited)

CT PRIVATE EQUITY TRUST PLC

Balance Sheet

CT PRIVATE EQUITY TRUST PLC

Reconciliation of Movements in Shareholders' Funds

Notes (unaudited)

1.     The unaudited quarterly results have been prepared on the basis of the accounting policies set out in the statutory accounts of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2024.  Earnings for the three months to 31 March 2025 should not be taken as a guide to the results for the year to 31 December 2025.

2.     Investment management fee:

3.     Finance costs:

4.     Returns and net asset values

5.     The financial information for the three months ended 31 March 2025, which has not been audited or reviewed by the Company's auditor, comprises non-statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 434 of the Companies Act 2006.  Statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024, on which the auditor issued an unqualified report, will be lodged shortly with the Registrar of Companies.  The quarterly report will be available shortly on the Company's website www.ctprivateequitytrust.com

Legal Entity Identifier: 2138009FW98WZFCGRN66

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