I must say that those people at Edge Performance VCT must be very nice chaps, for I had an email yesterday purporting to be from them thanking me for my continued support in backing the founders and management team. Clearly describing the Edge VCT as a shit-show is pushing all the right buttons.
I noted on Friday that the I shares from the alphabet soup that is Edge Performance VCT (EDGH for news, EDGI for the shares) are going to be wound up and sent off to the great share repository in the sky. This is after I shareholders got an 8.5p dividend with roughly another 3.5p to come following the disposal of Coolabi via a takeover on an enterprise value of £35 million. But I fancy I shareholders will be bitterly disappointed, given that they lost over half of their money over a nine-year period. A look at what happened with Coolabi may begin to explain why.
I have commented (bearishly) on the Edge Performance VCT and its alphabet-soup of share classes in the past. Yesterday the company released its Interim Results to August 2021: I couldn’t resist taking a look…..
Since they were launched by the John Major government in 1995, Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), which are closed end investment trusts that provide finance for small and growing unquoted UK companies, and which are listed on the main market, have given investors a bumpy ride. The tax breaks remain generous, albeit not as generous as they were initially, and some of the now-established generalist ones have provided and continue to provide investors with a steady income from tax-free dividends with relatively low risk, whilst most of the worst ones have fallen by the wayside, taking a large chunk of investors’ money with them. I remain, broadly, a fan but there are still some appalling examples of around.
Once upon a time I had shares in Edge Performance VCT over several classes of share. It proved a disaster, and I sold out at a loss. I did cover some of the problems (see HERE) some time ago, but it seems that the shit show has continued ever since. On 29th August the shareholders decided enough was enough at the AGM, booting out three of the board and the auditor. This leaves the company with just one director – I believe company law is that it must have two as a fully listed plc, but the shares have not been suspended, nor has there been any announcement of an interim appointment.
