The Lemon Fool

UncleEbenezer wrote:What's spacex got to do with anything? Unless as a potential client (or even buyer) for some Seraphim investees?

You mentioned SMT - which has a holding in SpaceX.

UncleEbenezer wrote:That's the second time you've described something that looks a lot like SMT's strategy of making big, high-risk bets in the expectation that though many will fail, enough of them will come good to keep investors happy.

I'm sure you agree that SMT and SSIT have rather different risk profiles and I'm sure it's not worth me listing the differences between the two funds.

RC

UncleEbenezer wrote:

ReformedCharacter wrote:

UncleEbenezer wrote:I don't hold Seraphim, but I do hold a couple of space-based startup companies.

Would you like to mention which ones?

RC

Why? I'm not giving them as share tips, just mentioning that I hold some. But since you ask, two are Vultus and Wegaw.

Why? This board is about investment and I'm actually interested since you seem to be well-informed on the subject. Thanks for listing them.

RC

UncleEbenezer wrote:

monabri wrote:You expect "rocket scientists" to be concerned with things like "margins" and "cost control".... ? Trust me, they aren't.

Speaking as someone who spent a fair chunk of my life working on space projects, we get all sorts. Even rocket scientists have beancounters on their backs, albeit some more generous than others.

I was both and I don't think "generous" was a term ever bandied around (poacher turned gamekeeper).

ReformedCharacter wrote:Why? This board is about investment and I'm actually interested since you seem to be well-informed on the subject. Thanks for listing them.

RC

Um, my knowledge isn't exactly up-to-date. Space was the #1 theme of the first half of my career in the 1980s and 90s, but the nearest I've been in 20 years is the very occasional few days consulting.

I have been doing some bottom fishing (sorting ITs by discount to NAV) and came across this one on a discount of 46%. It is also sitting on 28% cash which is interesting. Then I realised I know the chairman (Will Whitehorn) who used to live next door and who's son is a good friend of my daughter. Not that this makes the slightest difference to my thoughts about the investment case.

Anyway, why the massive discount? Is it that the valuations of the unlisted portfolio are out of alignment with reality, following the tech sell off, or is there something I have missed in the announcements, documents or in the portfolio itself?

I realise this is highly speculative stuff, but thought it might be worth having a small punt. It pays no dividends, which is handy and I can use 75% of the value as variation margin at IG, also useful.

hiriskpaul wrote:I have been doing some bottom fishing (sorting ITs by discount to NAV) and came across this one on a discount of 46%. It is also sitting on 28% cash which is interesting. Then I realised I know the chairman (Will Whitehorn) who used to live next door and who's son is a good friend of my daughter. Not that this makes the slightest difference to my thoughts about the investment case.

Anyway, why the massive discount? Is it that the valuations of the unlisted portfolio are out of alignment with reality, following the tech sell off, or is there something I have missed in the announcements, documents or in the portfolio itself?

I realise this is highly speculative stuff, but thought it might be worth having a small punt. It pays no dividends, which is handy and I can use 75% of the value as variation margin at IG, also useful.

The big discount IMHO is mostly due to doubts about the unquoted NAV. Given that some of the trust's unquoted holdings listed recently (I think that the big one is Arqit) and their share prices have been hammered, as has most of the technology sector, people are going to question the valuations put on the remaining private companies.

I sold most of my shares a few months ago, keeping a very small holding so that I pay a bit more attention to it that if it was just on my watchlist.

hiriskpaul wrote:Anyway, why the massive discount?

Part of the general Growth Capital sinking? viewtopic.php?p=508848#p508848

Thanks for comments. I think this is an interesting fund, but have decided to wait for the Q4 results and updated NAV before buying.

People may consider taking another look at this IT after watching this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NAYAIThOiU

Shares in SSIT have taken a beating in the past year. They languish on a 68% discount to the June net asset value, reducing the £222m portfolio of early and growth stage unquoted space tech businesses to a market value of just £72m.

The trust, which launched in July 2021, has seen a total underlying loss of 11.5% in the past 12 months, while shareholders are down 34%.

https://tinyurl.com/m6bubbkx

RC