Syncona pleased with portfolio performance in latest quarter

Healthcare company Syncona issued its quarterly update for the three months to 30 June on Thursday, reporting an increase in net assets increased to £1.28bn, or 193.1p per share, for a total return of 23%.

The FTSE 250 firm said its life science portfolio - a “key driver” of growth - was valued at £789.4m, or 62% of net assets, for a 41.8% return over the quarter.

It said it had a capital pool of £522m, made up of £68.4m in cash, and funds investments of £453.6m.

The board reported “continued strong performance” in its portfolio company Blue Earth, with US unit sales of Axumin of 6,000 in the period; revalued to £213.2m, for a valuation increase of £26.4m which was primarily driven by positive foreign exchange movements.

It also highlighted the completion of two “significant” financing rounds in Syncona’s portfolio companies - an £85m commitment to Freeline and a £18.1m investment in the successful IPO of Autolus.

Autolus was valued at £275.8m at 30 June - a £172.6m valuation uplift in the period.

Syncona also made a £9.8m commitment to a new portfolio company, which it said employed a “novel” technology platform to enable drug discovery in small molecule and antibody areas, bringing the number of life science portfolio companies to nine.

Immediately following the period end, Syncona also sold its entire holding in Nasdaq-listed Endocyte.

The board said the exit resulted in Syncona crystallising a total realised gain of £10.2m on an original investment of £4m, generating value from a therapeutic area in which Syncona has deep domain expertise.

“We have continued to deliver strong performance across the business and have seen life science increase to 62% of our portfolio,” said chief executive Martin Murphy.

“Our continued progress demonstrates the success of our differentiated model, which combines a hands-on, partnership approach to building innovative healthcare companies with a long-term investment perspective and access to a deep pool of capital.”

Murphy said it was an “important period” for Syncona as its portfolio companies progressed through clinical trials.

“There remains much to do as we work to support these businesses to become global leaders in their fields and deliver transformational treatments to patients.”