Seneca vct seminar

[barchid]

Seneca had an interesting semina on their vct this morning, it was recorded so it should be on their website some time this afternoon.
Well worth watching imho.

[sinterklaas]

What are the main things you got from it?

Couldn’t find anything on the website

[barchid]

sinterklaas
Go to their website, click on "investors" then click on September 2021 presentation, and open it.
What did I take from it ?
They are certainly keen on keeping costs down, which is in stark contrast to some other vct managers, they have a good deal flow from their scouse location and are prepared to negotiate fees on purchase of the vct. Additionally their use of AIM shares in the Hygea vct has been proven. Clearly it needs to gain traction as size is still very modest, but so are the fees.
It actually was not long ago that Amati had an offer open nearly all year as investors were cautious of them, ditto Pembroke so on their track record in EIS which is good I think they are well worth a dabble

[barchid]

Seneca gave another webinar today, following their year end accounts, it will be on their website soon apparently.
Over the year I have been invested here the AIM element has increased considerably and much of the presentation was taken up with how they have a strong pipeline (EIS companies developing but eligible for a VCT) against the comparative liquidity AIM offers them, the takeaway I got here was that they are happy to take fairly swift profits in these quoted stocks which pays for their divis whilst the EIS stocks mature.
Certainly they seem to be making some headway, costs are now down to sub 3%, which is hardly heroic but not bad for a small new vct struggling to gain traction in scaling up.
It is still very early days but they are gaining funds and importantly are prepared to discuss the initial commission charged which I note is now 2% on Wealth Club but previously was 1% (0% for existing shareholders).
I always like a VCT that you can buy at NAV...
Sometimes it can be worth buying into unloved VCT's, Pembroke & Amati spring to mind, both have scaled up very successfully,no idea whether Seneca will do as well as them but they do have that EIS experience in house which gives me some confidence in their pipeline.

[barchid]

Since I typed the earlier review on Seneca I see that Wealth Club have just dropped their initial fees back to where they were, 1% for new investors & 0% for existing holders.
No complaints there then.

[UncleEbenezer]

(EIS companies developing but eligible for a VCT)

Eh? Where's the relevance of EIS - beyond the common criteria for eligibility between EIS and VCT?

Are you saying the VCT co-invests with EIS funds under the same management? I recollect quite a few years ago trying to ask Octopus about that with reference to their co-investment. My concern was that there could be a conflict of interest: for example, if an offer conditional on both selling happened within the EIS qualifying period and the tax rules tipped the balance between accepting or holding on, who prevails?

[barchid]

Uncle
You raise a fair point, but this is an EIS specialist who wanted to make the move into vct land, which as you know has different rules, but if an eis seeems to be suuccesfull enough to need a fund raise then that can probably suit a vct. Hence a pipeline.
Which is one side of the coin, the other side is aim shares. To my mind this is an interesting proposition as the smaller, earlier stage, vct's can be more nimble perhaps, than the established behomoths ?
See the recording when it comes up on their website then let me know your thoughts, which certainly on vct's have tended to be prescient.