Archived article
Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.
Syncona Ltd on Thursday said it launched a new portfolio company as it reported a fall in net asset value, citing a weaker US dollar.
The life science investor said net asset value per share fell 5.2% to 178.9 pence per share as at September 30 from 188.7p at March 31.
Syncona said the performance was mostly driven by a decline in Autolus Therapeutics PLC share price and a weaker US dollar, and was partially offset by valuation uplifts from private portfolio company financings and accretive share buybacks.
Syncona has an 11% stake in Autolus, which is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of T effector cell therapies designed to offer cancer patients benefits over existing standard of care.
Shares in Autolus had closed down 1.2% at $3.29 each on Wednesday in New York, and are down 16% over the past six months. Over the year so far, its shares are 52% lower.
Syncona shares were 0.4% lower at 112.40 pence each on Thursday afternoon in London.
Syncona’s life science portfolio was valued at £791.9 million as at September 30, up 0.7% from £786.1 million at March 31.
The company declared no dividend for the half-year, unchanged from a year ago.
Separately, Syncona announced the launch of a new portfolio company named Slingshot, the Syncona Accelerator.
Slingshot is focused on accumulating and developing a pipeline of early-stage programmes identified from academia, Syncona, which provided an initial commitment of £12.5 million, said.
‘Slingshot will benefit from Syncona’s expertise in creating and building companies from early-stage science. It will focus on accumulating a pipeline of early-stage programmes, identified from academia, and accelerating their development towards the clinic. Through a high-quality management team, Slingshot will offer academic founders access to development expertise that is rarely available to singular early-stage programmes, as well as centralised resource, funding and operational support,’ Syncona said.
Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.