Honeycomb Investment Trust plc (LSE:HONY) reported an 8.4% net asset value return for July and said its investment pipeline for the third and fourth quarters “continues to look strong”.
The investment trust’s NAV per share ended the month at 1,024.3p, or 1,017.8p excluding income, which represented a 0.72% NAV return in the month.
Net investment assets grew to £620mln from £594.4mln in June, which manager Pollen Street Capital said in its monthly update was driven by the extension of a new revolving credit facility to an existing SME lending partner, drawdowns against existing property-backed facilities and participation in a senior asset-backed facility to a large electric vehicle subscription business.
The new facility is with one of Europe’s largest small business lenders and builds on the company’s relationship with the firm since 2016.
“The funding line will enable the firm to grow its UK SME loan offering, highlighting the company’s commitment to investment that drives positive impact,” said Pollen Street.
The investment trust also made a £30mln commitment to a new Pollen Street managed credit investment vehicle that is focused on asset-backed lending to non-bank lenders, which will allow Honeycomb to efficiently participate in new PSC investments when the trust is close to fully deployed.
The company also participated in a senior asset-backed facility to the largest pure-play electric vehicle subscription business in Europe, with the facility directly secured on the fleet of electric vehicles and will fund growth in the number of cars to meet customer demand and drive increased access and adoption of electric vehicles across Europe.
“The underlying risk adjusted yield remained strong at 9.4% annualised for the month with credit metrics remaining positive. The pipeline continues to be robust with a number of well progressed transactions that are expected to complete in Q3,” Pollen Street concluded.
Honeycomb was also announced as a finalist in the ‘debt’ category of Investment Week's Investment Company of the Year Awards 2021, in association with the AIC.