Molten Ventures PLC on Monday said its gross portfolio value was up 55% but warned of ‘slowing of investment’ in the coming year.

Shares in the London-based venture capital trust were down 4.9% to 453.20 pence each in London on Monday morning.

Molten Ventures reported that in the year to March 31 its gross portfolio value was up 55% to £1.53 billion, from £984 million year-on-year.

The company added that it had invested £311 million in the financial year, including £112 million into new companies and £130 million of follow-ons into its existing portfolio. Meanwhile, cash proceeds from realisations in the period totalled £126 million.

Net asset value per share also rose 26% to 937p per share at March 31 from 743p the year before.

Further, pretax profit for financial year 2022 was up 22% to £325.0 million from £267.4 million year-on-year.

Looking forward, Molten Ventures said it remains concerned about the current geopolitical environment. In particular, the company cites Covid-19 restrictions in China and future variants as key issues, due to the pandemics impact on the supply chain and investor confidence.

The company said it ‘anticipates a slowing of investment’, it therefore expects a level of annual deployment in the region of £150 million.

Chief Executive Martin Davis added: ‘The current level of volatility makes it challenging to give a meaningful forecast of portfolio fair value growth for the current financial year, but we remain confident in the strength of our portfolio and of our model which has proven its ability to meet or exceed our targets of 10% of NAV in cash realisations and an annual fair value growth of 20% across the cycle.’

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