175996 British Opportunities Trust plc Annual Report Pt1.qxp_175996 British Opportunities Trust plc Annual Report Pt1 14/07/2022 13:40 Page a ## Schroder British ## Opportunities Trust ## plc ## Report and Accounts for the ## period ended 31 March 2022 175996 British Opportunities Trust plc Annual Report Pt1.qxp_175996 British Opportunities Trust plc Annual Report Pt1 14/07/2022 13:40 Page b ### Investment objective The Company’s investment objective is to deliver long-term total returns throughout the life of the Company by investing in a diversified public equity and private equity portfolio of predominantly UK Companies. ### Target return The Company aims to provide a NAV total return of 10per cent. per annum (once the Company is fully deployed across the target allocation between public and private equity investments) over the life of the Company. ### Investment policy The Company will invest in a diversified portfolio of both public equity investments and private equity investments consisting predominantly of UK Companies with strong long- term growth prospects. It is anticipated that the Company’s portfolio will typically consist of 30 to 50 holdings and will target companies with an equity value between approximately £50 million and £2billion at the time of initial investment. The Company will focus on companies which the Portfolio Managers consider to be sustainable from an environmental, social and governance perspective, supporting at least one of the goals and/or sub-goals of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”), or which the Portfolio Managers consider would benefit from their support in helping them incorporate SDGs into their business planning and/or in reporting their alignment with SDGs. The Company will aim to achieve a target allocation of approximately 50 per cent. public equity investments and approximately 50 per cent. private equity investments. The Company’s portfolio will predominantly comprise public equity investments until target deployment into private equity investments is achieved. The Company may, from time to time, use borrowings for investment and efficient portfolio management purposes. Gearing will not exceed 10 per cent. of Net Asset Value, calculated at the time of drawdown of the relevant borrowing. The full investment policy can be found on the website and on pages38 to 41 of the prospectus dated 10 November 2020. Proposed changes to the investment policy are summarised in the Chairman’s Statement and can be found in full on pages 71 to 74 of the Notice of Annual General Meeting 175996 British Opportunities Trust plc Annual Report Pt1.qxp_175996 British Opportunities Trust plc Annual Report Pt1 14/07/2022 13:40 Page 1 ## Contents Strategic Report Financial Highlights and Key Performance Indicators 2 Chairman’s Statement 3 Portfolio Managers’ Review 5 Investment Portfolio 15 Strategic Review 16 Strategic Report Strategic Report Governance Board of Directors 30 Directors’ Report 32 Audit and Risk Committee Report 36 Management Engagement Committee Report 39 Nomination Committee Report 40 Directors’ Remuneration Report 42 Governance Financial Statement of Directors’ Responsibilities in respect of the Annual Report and Accounts 44 Financial Independent Auditor’s Report 45 Income Statement 52 Statement of Changes in Equity 53 Statement of Financial Position 54 Cash Flow Statement 55 Notes to the Accounts 56 Annual General Meeting Annual General Meeting – Recommendations 71 Notice of Annual General Meeting 74 Explanatory Notes to the Notice of Meeting 75 Definitions of Terms and Performance Measures 77 Shareholder Information 80 Annual General Meeting Report and Accounts Report and Accounts 1 for the period ended 31 March 2022 for the period ended 31 March 2022 175996 British Opportunities Trust plc Annual Report Pt1.qxp_175996 British Opportunities Trust plc Annual Report Pt1 14/07/2022 13:40 Page 2 ## Financial Highlights and Key Performance Indicators Some of the financial measures below are classified as Alternative Performance Measures, as defined by the European Securities and Markets Authority and are indicated with an asterisk (*). Definitions of these performance measures, and other terms used in this report, are given on page 77 together with supporting calculations where appropriate. ### Returns for the nine months ended 31 March 2022 (30 June 2021: Public 57.6% % % 67.9%) ## -4.0 -20.0 Private 42.4% (30 June 2021: 32.1%) | (Period ended | | | (Period ended | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 30 June 2021 | 1 : | | 30 June 2021 | 1 : | | | +10.6%) | | | +5.0%) | | | | | | Share price | | | Equity holdings | Net asset value (“NAV”) per share ### Other financial information 31 March 2022 30 June 2021 % Change Shareholders’ funds (£’000) 78,103 81,327 (4.0) Shares in issue 75,000,000 75,000,000 – NAV per share (pence) 104.14 108.44 (4.0) Share price (pence) 84.00 105.00 (20.0) Share price discount to NAV per share* (%) 19.3 3.2 2 Net cash* (%) (19.8) (22.1) Nine months ended Period ended 1 31 March 2022 30 June 2021 Net revenue loss after taxation (£’000) (577) (433) Net revenue loss per share (pence) (0.77) (0.58) Dividend per share (pence) – – 3 Ongoing Charges* (%) 1.39 1.40 1 The comparative figures cover the period from the date of incorporation on 21 September 2020, to 30 June 2021. The Company began investing on 1 December 2020 (“launch date”). 2 Borrowings used for investment purposes, less cash, expressed as a percentage of net assets. The Company currently has no borrowings, so this is shown as a negative, net cash figure. 3 Based on annualised ongoing charges as the financial period is less than a full year, in accordance with AIC guidance. Schroder British Opportunities Trust plc 2 # Chairman's Statement ![img-0.jpeg](img-0.jpeg) I am pleased to present the Company's second Report and Accounts which covers the nine month period ended 31 March 2022. As set out in our first Report and Accounts, the Company has shortened its second accounting period to nine months to better align our reporting with periodic valuations of underlying private equity investments. Since last reporting to investors, markets around the world have come under pressure as the war in Ukraine and other factors have resulted in higher inflation and monetary policy tightening in many economies. Public equities have suffered across the board and our public portfolio has not been immune to that. The market has marked down growth companies in particular, due to the cost of finance rising. The immediate effect of this on the Company has been for the share price discount to net asset value ("NAV") to widen as it has with many investment companies that hold private equity investments. Shareholders will read in the performance review below that this discount change is not driven by the underlying performance of the private companies we invest in. Quite the opposite in fact. Unfortunately, we cannot influence the market dynamics and the 'group think' that exists but we can state that the Company is well placed with its current portfolio. ## Performance The Company's NAV produced a negative return of -4.0% during the period. Whilst our private equity holdings demonstrated strong resilience, this was offset by weakness in our public equity holdings. The share price produced a disappointing negative return of -20.0%, as the discount significantly widened during the period from 3.2% at the beginning of the period to 19.3% at 31 March 2022. Further comment on performance can be found in the Portfolio Managers' review. Despite current headwinds, there are lots of positive developments that support our rationale for investment.² ## Earnings and final dividend The Company's objective is to provide long-term total returns to shareholders. The Company earns investment income from the public equity holdings during the period but after deducting operating expenses there was a revenue loss. As a result, the Directors do not propose the payment of a final dividend. In line with current best practice, we will seek shareholder approval of this proposal at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting ("AGM"). ## Discount management Your Board monitors the level of the Company's discount to NAV and regularly reviews its share buy back policy. At the time of the Company's flotation in 2020, the Board stated that it would utilise share buy backs to seek to maintain the price at which the ordinary shares trade relative to their prevailing NAV at no greater than a 5 per cent discount, measured over the long term and subject to normal market conditions. It is fair to say that current market conditions have seen high, unforeseen levels of volatility which the Board does not regard as normal. Nevertheless, after the end of the period, we utilised the authorities provided by shareholders to purchase 100,000 shares to be held in treasury to reissue when the Company regains its premium rating to NAV. Your Board will seek shareholder approval to renew its standing authority to repurchase shares at the forthcoming AGM. We will continue to monitor the level of the discount and consider the merits of further buy backs, which should be accretive in nature when discounts are wide. However, any decision to buy back shares will be influenced by such factors as: market conditions; the small size of the Company; the illiquid nature of the private equity holdings; the need to retain cash for investment opportunities; and the level of the Company's borrowing, if any. ## Portfolio activity Further progress was made during the period in deploying capital into attractive investment opportunities to increase portfolio diversification. Details of these investments are available in the Portfolio Managers' Report. This was limited to public equities in the period as, despite detailed due diligence on a number of private equity opportunities, no new private investments were made. The investment team remained focused on pricing discipline in a highly competitive market. Good companies do not make good investments if the pricing is too high. I am pleased to report that since the period end, we have announced three new private equity investments into Mintec, CFC, and Pirum. Following these investments private equity investment represented approximately 49%¹ of Company's Gross Asset Value. This achieves the target that we set out at Initial Public Offering ("IPO"). In addition, the Company has made commitments to support portfolio companies in executing their growth strategies and has now fully utilised its allowed exposure to private investments. ## Proposed change of investment policy At IPO in December 2020, your Board indicated in its investment policy that it would aim to achieve approximately 50% of public equity investments and approximately 50% of private equity investments, once fully invested. We also set an investment restriction stating that private equity investments could account for no more than 60% of the Company's Gross Asset Value at the time of commitment. ¹ Allocation % calculated using 6th of June 2022 Gross Asset Value with Private Equity valuations as at 31 December 2021 ² Past performance is not a guide to future performance and may not be repeated. The value of investments and the income from them may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amounts originally invested. Report and Accounts for the period ended 31 March 2022 3 Strategic Report 175996 British Opportunities Trust plc Annual Report Pt1.qxp_175996 British Opportunities Trust plc Annual Report Pt1 14/07/2022 13:40 Page 4 ## Chairman’s Statement Following the commitment to the latest private investment, therefore recommend a vote in favour of each, as your and taking into account existing commitments, the allocation Directors intend to do in respect of their own holdings. to private equity is now fully utilised. After careful consideration and consultation with ### shareholders, given the strong pipeline of investment Outlook opportunities identified by our Portfolio Managers’, your Despite the challenging economic environment, your Board Board is proposing to remove the 50:50 allocation guidance is pleased with the diversified portfolio the Portfolio and the private equity limit. This will give our Portfolio Managers have constructed since IPO across a broad range Managers more flexibility to take advantage of further of leading UK businesses, both listed and privately owned, private equity opportunities should they deem them spanning a number of sectors. The Company continues to attractive when weighed against opportunities available in invest ‘fresh’ equity into small to mid-sized British businesses, public markets and vice versa. The investment restriction facilitating and driving growth, in line with its IPO mandate. that the Company’s portfolio must contain a minimum of 30 holdings is unchanged and it is the Board and the Portfolio Equity valuations are seemingly disconnected from fair value Managers’ intention that the portfolio will continue to in many sectors and market sentiment is driving pricing contain a diverse range of public and private equity rather than fundamentals. This creates opportunities for a investments. smart investor and our Portfolio Managers aim to add attractively valued investments that display characteristics The amended investment policy is set out in the Notice of such as pricing power, business transformation potential and Meeting at the end of this report and accounts and the robust technological enablement. The Company has a strong changes will be put forward to shareholders for approval at pipeline of innovative British companies but will maintain its the AGM. pricing discipline when assessing further additions. Your Board is disappointed by market conditions reducing shareholder return over the period but remains confident in ### Webinar from the Portfolio Managers the medium term about the strength of the current portfolio ### and shareholder communications and the further opportunities in consideration at the time of writing. Our Portfolio Managers will be presenting at a webinar on Tuesday 19 July 2022 from 1.00 – 2.00 p.m. to provide some insight into their decision making and the current portfolio. Neil England Shareholders are encouraged to visit the website: Chairman https://www.schroders.com/sbo to sign up. 13 July 2022 Regular news about the Company can be found on the website: https://www.schroders.com/en/uk/private- investor/fundcentre/funds-in-focus/investment- trusts/schrodersinvestment-trusts/never-miss-an-update ### AGM Our second AGM will be held on Monday, 5 September 2022 at 12.00 noon at 1 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU. Our Portfolio Managers will provide a short presentation at this meeting to investors who attend in person. Your Board welcomes shareholders’ comments and questions for us or our Portfolio Managers. Please contact us via our Company Secretary: amcompanysecretary@schroders.com or write to us at The Company Secretary, Schroder British Opportunities Trust plc at the above address. We will endeavour to get your questions answered and published prior to the AGM and will also provide answers to commonly asked questions on the Company’s webpages. Shareholders are also encouraged to cast their votes by proxy to ensure that they are counted. Your Directors consider that all of the resolutions being proposed are in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders and Schroder British Opportunities Trust plc 4 # Portfolio Managers' Review ## Introduction ### Summary - The Company reported a net asset value ("NAV") of 104.14p per share as of 31 March 2022, a decrease of 4.0% relative to the NAV as of 30 June 2021 (108.44p per share). - In a challenging environment, the private equity holdings have continued to perform strongly throughout the period. In this regard, the revaluation of our largest investment, **Rapyd**, and the overall resilience of the private equity holdings has been particularly pleasing. Meanwhile, turbulent markets and a progressively challenging economic environment largely contributed to weakness of the public equity holdings, with **Victorian Plumbing** and **Trustpilot** weighing on returns despite strong share price performance from positions in **Watches of Switzerland** and **Blue Prism** over the period. - We continued to seek to invest fresh equity, where attractive, into small to mid-sized British businesses, facilitating and driving their growth. We have now made a total of 15 primary equity investments (IPOs, rights issues or equity placements) since the Company's launch. - We continued to seek out attractive businesses that we believe exhibit strong growth trajectories and added five new holdings to the portfolio over the period (**LendInvest**, **MaxCyte**, **Velocys**, **On The Beach Group** and **Sosandar**), while we exited two, and another was disposed of following a take-over. - As at 31 March 2022, 83% of net assets were invested across public equities and private equities, of which 35% of net assets were invested in private companies. - At the period end, the Company held a total of 37 holdings (six of which were private investments), all of which were made from a bottom-up, rather than top-down approach to investing. With that said, the portfolio was skewed towards investments in the IT Services and Commercial Services & Supplies sectors. After the end of the period, further progress with the portfolio was made, including three new exciting private equity investments in **CFC**, **Mintec** and **Pirum**. At the time of writing, the Company has reached its target allocation of c.50% per cent private equity investments, while delivering this within the deployment timeline of 6 to 24 months from IPO. - While the current economic environment may be challenging, we believe this is one of the most opportune times to be an investor, where falling valuations for many businesses are removed from their underlying positive fundamentals. ## Market The period was a game of two halves, especially for small and mid-cap areas of the market. UK public equities in aggregate rose over the last six months of 2021, punctuated by bouts of volatility driven by COVID-19 news. UK large, mid and small cap equity (FTSE 100, 250 and Smaller Companies respectively) indices posted positive returns. However, while UK equities overall were resilient in Q1 2022 as investors began to price in the additional inflationary shock of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, this resilience was driven by large cap oil, mining, healthcare and banking companies. Meanwhile, UK small and mid-cap stocks performed poorly; they were negatively impacted as consumer-focused sectors and a number of economically sensitive areas of the market underperformed. Companies offering high future growth potential lagged as the prospect of rising interest rates continued to heavily influence the investor mindset in favour of nearer-term returns. Given the portfolio's focus on investing in companies with strong long-term growth prospects, this was a challenging period. In private markets, the second half of 2021 saw continued high levels of activity taking total deal volumes and deal numbers to record levels for the year in the UK. This reflected confidence returning to the market following a disrupted 2020. The final quarter of 2021, however, saw several headwinds emerge which caused a slight cooling in sentiment. The Omicron variant of Covid-19, combined with ongoing issues around supply chains, and the emergence of inflation, led to the reassessment of transactions. However, deals continued to complete as demand remained high. Despite the correction in public equity markets which started in the first quarter of 2022, private markets, particularly at the growth and buyout stage where the Company is most focused, remained buoyant as transactions negotiated over the preceding 3-9 months continued to come to fruition. The first signs of the downturn approaching were most evident in the valuations of venture-stage businesses in the technology sector, which saw steep mark-to-market corrections. Throughout this period of irrational exuberance, which resulted in more capital chasing after transactions, we continued to remain particularly cautious, maintaining our price discipline, and no new private investments were made during the period. Strategic Report Report and Accounts for the period ended 31 March 2022 5 # Portfolio Managers' Review ## Portfolio performance | Attribution analysis £m | Quoted | Unquoted | Derivatives | Net cash | Other | NAV | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Value at 30.06.21 | 43.8 | 20.7 | (0.2) | 18.0 | (1.0) | 81.3 | | Investments | 7.1 | 0.2 | – | (7.3) | – | – | | Realisations at value | (5.7) | – | 0.7 | 5.0 | – | – | | Fair value (losses)/gains | (7.9) | 6.5 | (0.5) | – | – | (1.9) | | Costs and other movements | – | – | – | (0.2) | (1.1) | (1.3) | | **Value at 31.03.22** | **37.3** | **27.4** | **(0.0)** | **15.5** | **(2.1)** | **78.1** | Source: Schroders, as of 31 March 2022. Numbers have been rounded. The Company reported a net asset value ("NAV") of 104.14p per share as of 31 March 2022, a decrease of 4.0% relative to the NAV as of 30 June 2021 (108.44p per share). The NAV return of -4.0% comprised: - Quoted holdings: -9.8% - Unquoted holdings: 8.2% - Costs and other movements: -2.4% **Watches of Switzerland** performed very well following the announcement of an ambitious store expansion plan, which led it being the top performing stock in the FTSE 250 in 2021 and a key positive contributor to the Company's performance. However, the stock has weighed on returns in 2022 to date as its shares have been a casualty of the wider sell-off of the luxury goods sector witnessed this year. Elsewhere, **OSB** and **Blue Prism** also did well, with the latter's performance driven by it being sold to SS&C Technologies. As mentioned earlier, as 2022 took shape, companies offering high future growth potential were negatively impacted in the public markets, as the prospect of rising interest rates continued to heavily influence the investor mindset in favour of nearer-term earnings. For example, the share prices of our holdings in **MaxCyte** and **Trustpilot** were impacted by the sell-off of risk assets. Although these are presently loss-making companies, upward momentum continues in the underlying businesses, and this drove us to use the market weakness as an opportunity to increase the size of our holdings in Q1 2022. Meanwhile, **Victorian Plumbing** has had a disappointing start since becoming a public company in June 2022, with its shares impacted during the period by downward revisions in its revenue growth guidance. After carefully reassessing our investment, we believe it is well placed relative to its peers to compete in the current environment, with its strong balance sheet anchoring our investment thesis. Lastly, our position in **Luceco** held performance back due to a combination of concerns about the resilience of growth in the RMI space, as well as higher than expected costs. In a challenging environment, the private equity holdings have continued to perform strongly and the overall resilience of the private holdings has been particularly pleasing. The Company's unquoted holdings saw an increase in value of 32.4%, offsetting 8.2% of the full year decrease in NAV. **Waterlogic** was marked up towards the end of 2021, a valuation which was retained at the period end, to reflect substantial progress in its buy and build plan, including the transformational agreement to combine with Culligan International, creating a global leader in sustainable drinking water solutions and services. At the time of writing, the deal remains subject to receipt of regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, which are expected in the second half of 2022. Another key contributor to performance was **Rapyd**, the world's largest local payments network, which increased in fair value by a total of 28% or £1.9m, reflecting the company's strong recent financial performance. Furthermore, while valuation multiples have been volatile over the recent past, some of **Rapyd's** close comparators continue to be resilient. One of the principal drivers of the company's growth was the self-service on-boarding tool. **Rapyd** remains the company's largest holding representing 13.2% of total investments. Elsewhere across the portfolio, several other private equity investments have also seen uplifts thanks to positive underlying operational progress. London-based technology-enabled home-care company **Cera** has been marked up 39.0% in the period, following strong sales growth. Meanwhile, **EasyPark**, a leading, fast growing parking tech company that helps drivers find and manage parking spaces and charge their electrical vehicles, has also risen in value due to the company's positive integration with ParkNow and its continued geographic expansion. **Graphcore** and **Learning Curve** have also continued to make good progress but remain broadly held at or near cost reflecting the relatively short time since the Company's initial investments. ## Key positive and negative performers over the 9 months to end March 2022 | Top 5 contributors | Contribution % | | --- | --- | | Waterlogic | +2.4 | | Rapyd Financial Network | +2.3 | | Cera | +1.5 | | Easypark | +1.0 | | Watches of Switzerland | +0.9 | 6 Schroder British Opportunities Trust plc 175996 British Opportunities Trust plc Annual Report Pt1.qxp_175996 British Opportunities Trust plc Annual Report Pt1 14/07/2022 13:40 Page 7 ## Portfolio Managers’ Review Bottom 5 contributors Contribution % Group. While at the beginning of 2022, we invested in online clothing retailer Sosandar. Victorian Plumbing (1.4) December 2021 saw one of our companies, Blue Prism, Luceco (0.9) taken private by SS&C Technologies, making it the second Trustpilot (0.9) company in our portfolio to have been divested following a take-over offer. GB Group (0.8) The end of 2021 also saw us continue to invest in fresh Ibstock (0.7) equity placings, this time in DiscoverIE, Velocys, GB Group, Invinity Energy Systems and Ideagen, taking the total number of primary equity investments since the Company’s Strategic Report ### Portfolio activity & review launch to 15. It was also the second time since the launch of the Trust that the latter two firms had raised equity to fund a The portfolio is diversified across a number of industry pipeline of growth opportunities in their end markets. sectors, and in the chart below we show the split of the Perhaps indicative of its attractiveness, after the period-end portfolio at the end of the period. We believe that Ideagen received a confirmed bid from Hg Capital, a diversification is key to the protection of capital. Whilst some European private equity firm, and the firm is now delisted areas of the market may be in favour in certain periods, we from the stock market. As active investors, we are always believe that an all-weather portfolio will better protect pleased to see our portfolio companies make positive investors in the long run, with more stable investment changes from an environmental, social and governance returns. (“ESG”) perspective following our engagements with them, especially where we are providing fresh equity to facilitate Industry group as % of total investments and drive their future growth. DiscoverIE is a good example. K-#$&<*-B#B/*$ While we engaged with a number of portfolio companies on I( "#$%& '( ESG matters over the period, we engaged with DiscoverIE in August 2021 with a focus on board diversity, remuneration and climate change. The firm subsequently announced the appointment of a female ethnic minority member on the board with effect from January 2022 and has since adopted a revised diversity policy which includes targeting a minimum 40% female board. Elsewhere it has prioritised reducing carbon emissions by 50% as a first step towards achieving its a ‘net zero’ target. As 2022 gathered pace, public equity markets weakened from concerns over higher-than-expected inflation caused by =$,->? @( a combination of supply chain disruptions and the war between Russia and Ukraine. The cash buffer that we held during such a volatile period served us well to not only preserve the net asset value of the Company during falling The portfolio has been constructed from the bottom up, with markets, but also as dry powder to invest in emerging a focus on businesses with strong competitive advantages, opportunities. large total addressable markets and strong management During the first quarter of 2022, we did not deem there to be teams. The result is a portfolio that is well-exposed to any IPO opportunities attractive enough to participate in for companies with a technology offering (notably in software & inclusion in the portfolio. Following a significant fund-raising services and semiconductors & semiconductor equipment cycle in 2020 and 2021, we found that companies seeking to areas of the market), which reflects the digitalisation age of list on the stock market in the first few months of 2022 were today as well as our belief that this will continue. While there either low in quality or expected valuations that we believed is exposure to the wider consumer discretionary sector, were not befitting of the prevailing pricing environment. Our which is facing significant inflationary risk, we believe our focus is on finding opportunities for growth and we remain investments are poised to navigate the current landscape disciplined in our approach and continued to assess and beyond due to a combination of strong pricing power, opportunities across both public and private markets. We did market leadership and/or high barriers to entry. Meanwhile, however see significant dislocations in asset prices of the energy sector is a relatively small component of the already-listed companies whose underlying fundamentals portfolio presently, which may or may not change over time. had not changed. Some of these we held, such as Trustpilot Over the period, we continued to invest in attractive and Watches of Switzerland, in which we modestly businesses which we believe exhibit strong growth increased our positions. The shares of both companies sold trajectories underpinned by a range of factors including off for different reasons, but ultimately a ‘risk-off’ !"#$%&'()*)!('+,-(. regulatory tailwinds, the opportunity to increase and benefit environment meant that the market was not willing to pay /01 from competitors leaving the market. In the last six months for growth. of 2021, activity included participation in the IPO of buy-to-let 5,-6/.,& Elsewhere, we sold out of Breedon, Ibstock and Civitas, the mortgage lender LendInvest, and new investments in 5,+/.*$J8.B*-1=D8/<+,$B latter after the period end. Separately, we also reduced medical device company MaxCyte, sustainable fuels !"##$%&'"()&*&"%+ ,-(.*-#&-/+ exposure to more cyclically exposed companies Volution company Velocys and online travel agent On The Beach 0-1).(20."%+*(-3+ G,B#/0/$> .4"+5-..-3+2, Report and Accounts 7 for the period ended 31 March 2022 3C#-+#.,8B/.#0&E1"/*B,.C$*0*>?121 | 5,+/.*$J8.B*-&121 | | F/4,15./,$.,& | | | | A,#0BC1)#-,1=D8/<+,$B121 )*++,-./#01213-*4,&&/*$#01 | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | G,#01=&B#B, | | !"#$%"&'())*+ | !"#$%&'&()*"+*%$),")* | !).+/012'3124$51+ | | )*$&8+,-198-#:0,&121;<<#-,0 5,-6/.,& | | | | I( '( | H( !( | | ,,- | -. | ,6- | 7( 7( | !( | 175996 British Opportunities Trust plc Annual Report Pt1.qxp_175996 British Opportunities Trust plc Annual Report Pt1 14/07/2022 13:40 Page 8 ## Portfolio Managers’ Review and Bodycote, as we felt they would be pressured in the the investment into CFC, a technology-driven global current environment. insurance business that has established itself as a leader in cyber and provider of cover for a diverse range of emerging Over the period, we conducted a significant amount of due risks that sit at the intersection of technology and business. diligence on a number of new, private equity opportunities that have been progressing through our investment pipeline. In June 2022, we announced the investment into Pirum, a However, we remained steadfast in our pricing discipline and leading provider of post-trade automation and collateral ultimately declined several deals on valuation grounds. This management technology for the global securities industry patience was rewarded after the period end with three new and the Company’s ninth private equity investment since investments, which we believe represent attractive entry launch. Pirum was founded in 2000 to provide advanced, points that remain true to our valuation philosophy. centralised and secure reconciliation services for financial market participants and has a market leading position. Developments since 31 March 2022 We are delighted to have completed these three new private In May 2022, we announced the investment into Mintec, a equity investments in strong, UK-based, market leaders. We leading provider of food-related commodity pricing. This was had been tracking these businesses for an extended period an investment that exemplified the collaborative research of time through our long-term relationships with private efforts of Schroders’ public and private equity teams who equity firms Synova, Bowmark and Vitruvian, and manage the Company’s portfolio, with the former offering supplemented these efforts with enhanced due diligence crucial insights into the attractions of Mintec’s business made possible by the close working relationship between model following research carried out on Euromoney our public and private equity teams, which provided the Institutional Investor, one of Europe’s largest business and widest possible lens for assessment of our new investee financial information companies, and one of the public companies. We expect these businesses to be resilient to the equity positions in the portfolio, which owns a similar ongoing macroeconomic and market trends and are excited business in the same industry. The benefit of this shared to be part of the next phase of their growth story. insight demonstrates the unique collaborative research element in our management of the Company relative to As at 8 July 2022 the Company holds a cash balance of other wholly private equity or wholly public equity £2.5m. investment vehicles. In the same month, we also announced The below figure illustrates the progress made over the 12months to end June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