The company’s NAV was £497.0 million, equivalent to 695.07p per share. NAV total return, including dividends paid, was -0.2% for the period. Chairman Tom Burnet said positive valuation movements within the portfolio, which supported NAV, were offset by finance costs, operating expenses and adverse foreign-exchange movements.

The fund highlighted there were “encouraging signs” that private equity activity was recovering from the “subdued conditions of early 2023”.  The trust’s early investment in Cyberhawk, an AI-enabled infrastructure intelligence provider, illustrated the point. The company invested £2.1m in March 2019, acquiring a 23% interest alongside Magnesium Capital. 

Cyberhawk went on to develop from a specialist UK drone-inspection business into a global provider of AI-enabled infrastructure intelligence, operating in 40 countries and serving a number of the world’s leading electricity-network operators. 

In June, Cyberhawk was acquired by Ondas Inc, with the deal completing in August following regulatory approval. The sale generated proceeds of £17.9 million, representing a 7.2x return on invested capital, and a 32% IRR.

In early July, the company also completed the sale of a portfolio of nine older European fund interests for £24.7 million. The positions, acquired between 2008 and 2019, were judged to have more limited potential for further value creation than other areas of the portfolio.

Realisations and associated income totalled £63.6m in the first half of 2026, up 135% on the £27.1m received in the first half of 2025 and the second-highest first-half total on record after H1 2021, exceeding drawdown activity by £23.0m over the period.

There were 15 exits in the first half of 2026 including Cyberhawk. Eleven of them were trade sales and four were to larger private equity sponsors, returning an average of 2.8x cost and a weighted average of 5.5x cost.

The average uplift to carrying value on exit in this period was 32%, back in line with the long-term average of 29% and up sharply from 18% in 2025.

The largest single distribution in the period was £14.2 million from CARDO Group, the Buckthorn-led social housing maintenance provider, following the sale of a 65% holding in February at 7.9x cost. The trust retains a 35% stake, which has continued to appreciate.

The trust also invested £40.6m in new fund and co-investment opportunities during the period, up from £31.2m in the first half of 2025, including new commitments to Voltheia, Gyms4you and a further $3.0m into GT Medical, a developer of a bioresorbable brain-tumour radiotherapy unit.

Since the period end up to August 26, the company has purchased 180,000 shares to hold in treasury at an average discount of 28.4% and added 0.50p, or 0.07%, to NAV per share for continuing shareholders.

As of 14 August 2026, distributions year to date have reached £89.1m, already exceeding receipts for the full year 2025 of £80.1m, which is an encouraging indicator of the continued recovery in exit activity across the portfolio.

Net debt as of June 30, 2026 was £101.5m, representing gearing of 17.0%, up from 15.8% at 31 March. The company had approximately £45m of headroom across its facilities and cash resources, which has increased further with net cash inflows of £19.5m in the third quarter to August 14.

The trust also agreed to a three-year extension of its borrowing facilities with lenders RBSI and State Street, through to February 2030. A dividend of 7.10p per ordinary share was paid on 31 July 2026.

The board confirmed a further quarterly dividend of 7.10p, payable on October 30 to shareholders, representing an annualised dividend yield of 5.7% based on the share price at June 30 2026.

Investment manager Andrew Carnwath, said: “The global economic backdrop remains challenging and uncertain. Geopolitical uncertainty, including the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine and their potential implications for energy markets and supply chains, continues to contribute to market volatility and higher energy prices, inflation and interest rate expectations.

“Against this backdrop, private equity activity, particularly in Europe, proved resilient. Q2 European private equity deal activity was up 6.9% by value and flat on Q1 by number; if this pace is maintained through the second half of the year, 2026 would be on track to be a record year by deal count and only modestly below the annual record by deal value.”

He added: “The company is well positioned due to the strength and diversification of its portfolio, which contains over 500 high-quality small and mid-sized companies, many of which are leaders in high growth sub-sectors with structural growth drivers. We continue to see excellent investment opportunities at reasonable prices and are selectively making new investments to lay the foundations of future growth.

“The portfolio is modestly valued at 9.8x EV/EBITDA and has prudent leverage (2.7x net debt / EBITDA). The underlying companies continue to demonstrate robust operational performance, with the portfolio delivering revenue growth of 16% and EBITDA growth of 23% over the last twelve months.”