In QuotedData’s morning briefing for 11 September 2023:
- SEED Innovations (SEED) has announced the partial sale of its stake in Avextra AG, the German medical cannabis company, disposing of 56.4% of its shareholding. The sale resulted in gross proceeds of £2.45m, a 62% return on SEED’s initial investment. SEED retains a 3% stake in Avextra following the sale. SEED also provided updates on two of its other holdings, Northern Leaf, a Jersey based medical cannabis company, and OTO, a premium wellness brand. Northern Leaf has successfully made another round of financing via a loan note, which has the potential to increase its overall raise when it completes its future IPO. OTO saw a write down in its investment value due to a 75% impairment of its combined loan and equity value. This was due to what SEED saw as tough market conditions, plus OTO’s need for further investments in 2024.
- Literacy Capital (BOOK) published its half year results, in which it announced its NAV valuation for end June. Over the 6 months covered by the report, BOOK reported a NAV growth of 16.1%, with current net assets of £293.1m.
- Syncona (SYNC) has provided an update on GT005, a once lead asset at Gyroscope (a SYNC owned firm), by Novartis, a global medicals company, that purchased it from SYNC. Novartis informed SYNC that it discontinued research on GT005. This decision was based on an independent assessment which determined that the benefits and risks of the programme did not support its continued development. The decision taken by Novartis to stop development of GT005 will result in the Gyroscope milestone payments being written-off resulting in a negative £54.5m valuation impact for SYNC.
- LondonMetric Property (LMP) has sold four long income and retail assets, for £16.9m, is in line with book value. The largest asset comprises a 27,000 sq ft Waitrose store in Malmesbury which was sold for £9.6m, reflecting a net initial yield of 4.66%. The remaining assets comprise 47,000 sq ft of high street retail in Sunningdale and Rayleigh which were sold for £7.3m, reflecting a net initial yield of 8.62%. The three properties total 15 units and have a WAULT of four years and were acquired by LondonMetric as part of the CT Property acquisition in August 2023. The company has used the proceeds to pay off its outstanding floating rate debt, leaving 100% of its drawn debt hedged. Further sales of non-core assets from the CT Property portfolio are expected in the next few months.