FTSE 250 private equity fund HgCapital Trust (HgT) today released its half-year results for 2024, highlighting strong performance across its portfolio. HgT is part of Hg, which is Europe’s largest investor in software and services.

HgT delivered a total NAV return of +6.4% , bringing it to 527.9p per share, with net assets of £2.4 billion. The share price returned +12.7% during the period, closing at 485.0p per share, with a market capitalisation of £2.2 billion.

We produced the film below, which offers a snapshot of the trust and todays results: 

The trust narrowed its discount from 13% to 7%, driven by robust trading within its portfolio. HgT invested £310 million in new and further investments across its core clusters, with an additional £183 million in pending transactions for the second half of 2024. Realisations were equally strong, with £348 million in full and partial exits, achieving a 16% uplift in carrying value.

For the third consecutive year, HgT topped the list of investment trusts that would have generated over £1 million if the full ISA allowance had been invested annually since 1999. An ISA investment of £306,560 during that period would have grown to over £2.2 million by January 2024, according to the Association of Investment Companies (AIC).

Jim Strang, Chairman of HgT, attributed the trust’s success to strong trading performance across its top 20 investments, which represent 78% of the portfolio. The top investments saw sales and EBITDA growth of 19% and 26%, respectively.

David Toms, Head of Research at Hg, highlighted the resilience of Hg’s portfolio, with companies demonstrating over 90% recurring revenues and EBITDA margins of 30%, providing a stable platform for future growth even in volatile market conditions.