CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT I am pleased to present the annual results of Mobeus Income & Growth 4 VCT plc for the year ended 31 December 2018. Overview This has been a year of solid performance by the Company during the transition era brought about by the 2015 VCT rule changes, in which returns to shareholders have again been positive, principally due to a strong income return and a rise in the value of the unrealised portfolio. During the year, the Company made investments into five new companies, provided follow-on funding to five existing portfolio companies and realised its investment in four portfolio companies. Further details of this investment activity can be found under the 'Investment Portfolio' section of my Statement below and in the Investment Adviser's Review. The Company and the Investment Adviser have responded well to the VCT Rules introduced by the Finance (No2) Act 2015. The Investment Adviser's team has been expanded and fourteen growth capital investments have been completed as a result of the change in the Company's investment policy in May 2016. During the year, additional changes to VCT legislation were enacted, further details of which can be found in the Annual Report and under the 'Industry and regulatory developments' section of my Statement below. The Investment Adviser continues to report an interesting pipeline of growth capital opportunities. The sector is buoyant with much activity, although the entry pricing is, in some cases, challenging. Meanwhile, the existing MBO focused portfolio constructed under the previous VCT rules continues to provide a healthy yield. As mentioned in my half-year statement, we are delighted with the strong support from investors for our last fundraising, which closed fully subscribed in March 2018. Performance The Company's NAV total return per share for the year ended 31 December 2018 was 2.6% (2017: 6.5%) (being the closing NAV plus dividends paid in the year, divided by the opening NAV) while the share price total return was 4.6% (2017: 7.2%). This rise in NAV total return for the year was primarily due to another year of positive income returns (themselves principally because of loan stock interest and higher dividend income) and a net increase in the value of the existing portfolio. As a result of this performance, the NAV cumulative total return per share (being the closing NAV plus total dividends paid to date) increased during the year by 1.2% from 187.77 pence to 189.99 pence. The NAV at 31 December 2018 was 84.79 pence. For details of these calculations, please refer to the Strategic Report. For more details on the longer-term performance of your investment in the Company, please consult the Investor Performance Appendix on the Company's website. Investment portfolio During the year, £5.88 million was invested in five new growth capital investments and five existing growth portfolio companies (analysed in the Investment Review and explained within Note 8 to the Financial Statements). The new growth capital investments totalling £2.52 million were made into the following companies: · Proactive Investors, a provider of investor media services; · Super Carers, an online platform connecting people seeking home care; · Hemmels, a restorer of classic cars; · Rotageek, a provider of workforce management software; and · Grow Kudos, a digital platform for dissemination of research. In addition, five follow-on investments totalling £3.36 million were made into: · MPB, an online marketplace for used camera and video equipment; · Tapas Revolution, a leading Spanish restaurant chain in the casual dining sector; · MyTutor, a digital marketplace connecting people seeking online tutoring; · Preservica, a seller of proprietary digital archiving software; and · Biosite, a provider of biometric access control and software-based workforce management solutions for the construction sector. Shareholders should note that, at the year end, 46.8% of the value of the investment portfolio was held in MBO type investments and 53.2% was held in growth capital investments. £13.30 million has been invested in growth capital investments since the 2015 VCT rule changes. Cash proceeds totalling £1.77 million for the year were received from portfolio companies. Of this total, £1.23 million was received as cash proceeds from the sale of Fullfield (trading as Motorclean), Hemmels, Lightworks and SparesFinder, with a further £0.40 million being received as loan and share capital repayments and finally, £0.14 million from receipts of deferred consideration. For the year under review, the portfolio generated a net loss of £0.36 million on investments realised. Within this, the principal gains in the year were from the sale of Lightworks (which was realised at a profit over opening valuation of £0.16 million) and receipts from companies realised in a prior year. However, these were more than offset by losses incurred from the sale of Fullfield (trading as Motorclean) (£0.55 million, although this investment generated a positive return overall) and Hemmels (£0.28 million). The loss on the sale of Hemmels is explained further in the Investment Review. It serves to remind shareholders that an inherent risk of investing in relatively early stage smaller companies (as required by the terms of the new VCT regulations), is that not all ventures and companies will succeed. Investment realisations produced £0.47 million in capital gains and capital losses of £0.87 million when compared to original investment cost, a net loss of £0.40 million. The portfolio achieved a net unrealised increase of £1.29 million on investments still held, with positive increases from EOTH (Rab and Lowe Alpine), Plastic Surgeon and CGI Creative Graphics, partially offset by valuation falls at BookingTek, Wetsuit Outlet and Veritek. At the year end, the portfolio was valued at £36.30 million (2017: £31.48 million) representing 98.4% of cost (2017: 94.9%). Further details of the investment activity during the year and a summary of the performance highlights can be found in the Investment Review and in the Strategic Report within the Annual Report. Dividends Your Board is proposing a final dividend in respect of the year ended 31 December 2018 of 4.00 pence per share (2017: nil). The dividend, comprising 2.25 pence from capital and 1.75 pence from income, will be proposed to shareholders at the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held on Friday, 10 May 2019, to shareholders on the register on 26 April 2019, for payment on 28 May 2019. If approved by shareholders, this forthcoming final dividend will bring dividends paid in respect of the year ended 31 December 2018 to 8.00 pence (2017: 21.00 pence) per share, and the Company will have paid cumulative dividends since inception of 109.20 pence per share. The Company's target of paying a dividend of at least 4.00 pence per share in respect of each financial year has been reached or exceeded in each of the last eight years. While the Board has not yet changed the dividend target, ordinary dividend payments are more likely to be volatile, and, at least over the medium-term, may be lower than have been paid in the recent past. A chart showing the dividends paid in respect of each of the last five years and cumulative dividends on the same basis is included in the Strategic Report within the Annual Report. For the reasons set out in my half year statement (a copy of which can be found on the Company's website www.mig4vct.co.uk) the Company's Dividend Investment Scheme ("the Scheme") was suspended on 14 August 2018. Your Board will continue to keep the Scheme under review and will provide shareholders with advanced notice of any future decision to reintroduce, modify or cancel the scheme. Succession planning The Board is in the process of refreshing its composition. As you will read later in the Directors' Report, Andrew Robson, who has served as a Director of the Company since August 2010, has decided not to stand for re-election at the forthcoming annual general meeting and will accordingly retire at the conclusion of that meeting. The Nomination and Remuneration Committee expects to recommend the appointment of a director to succeed Andrew upon his retirement and to assume the role of chairman of the Audit Committee and the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, which Andrew presently chairs. Andrew has done an excellent job for the Company and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Andrew formally for his substantial contribution. As regards my role as Chairman of the Board, I have served as a Director of the Board since 2002, and the Board will shortly begin the process of finding a suitable successor. Industry and regulatory developments As mentioned in my Overview above, a number of additional changes to the VCT rules were introduced with the enactment of the Finance Act 2018 on 15 March 2018. These changes were designed to exclude tax-motivated investments where capital is not at risk (that is, principally seeking to preserve investors' capital) and to encourage VCTs to put their money to work more quickly. They also place further restrictions on the way investments are able to be structured. A summary of current VCT regulation can be found in the Annual Report. Share buybacks During the year ended 31 December 2018, the Company bought back 1.7% (2017: 1.1%) of the issued share capital of the Company at the start of the year, which was subsequently cancelled. Further details of the purchases are included in the Directors' Report in the Annual Report. Shareholder communications The annual shareholder event was held on Tuesday, 5 February 2019 at the Royal Institute of British Architects in Central London. This annual event included presentations on the Mobeus advised VCTs' investment activity and performance and from investee companies. There were separate day-time and evening sessions, and feedback from those who attended, which numbered around 350, found it to be informative and worthwhile. The next shareholder event will be held in the first quarter of 2020. Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting of the Company will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, 10 May 2019 at The Clubhouse, 8 St James's Square, London SW1Y 4JU. Both the Board and the Investment Adviser look forward to welcoming shareholders to the meeting which will include a presentation from the Investment Adviser on the investment portfolio and provide an opportunity to ask questions of the Board and the Investment Adviser. The notice of the meeting and an explanation of the resolutions to be proposed can be found in the Annual Report. Outlook Your Board considers that your Company is well positioned to prosper in the growth capital investment sector. Your Board again cautions that investing in such earlier stage companies does involve increased risk and those that succeed often take longer to achieve scale. Returns, therefore, will take longer to emerge and will be more volatile. It is generally true that the least successful investments are likely to emerge or fail before the most successful contribute. This is likely to cause a slower rate of financial progress in the earlier years, although it should be offset by more significant gains in the longer-term. Meanwhile, the portfolio retains a solid foundation of investments made under the previous MBO strategy, the majority of which are mature and profitable companies providing attractive income returns. Uncertainty is always detrimental to markets and economies. The Brexit process has certainly provided much uncertainty over an unreasonably long period. The inconsistent negotiating stance of the UK government, combined with multiple fissures in Parliament and in the country, has done much damage. To be slightly contrary, it is remarkable that so far the UK economy has held up as well as it has, but this could, of course, change rapidly. There are also some non-UK issues which could affect our economy, but as I said last year, investing in the unquoted sector is not a short-term exercise. The most recent fundraising provides the Company with sufficient funds to meet its commitments and to continue the current investment rate in the short to medium-term, if suitable opportunities are identified and can be invested in at acceptable prices. Your Board is also pleased to note that the Investment Adviser continues to expand and strengthen its investment team to source and manage investments that complement the portfolio. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity once again to thank all shareholders for their continued support. Christopher Moore Chairman |