Quest for Growth suffers a € 25 million loss in 2022 following three robust years

Quest for Growth does not escape stock market malaise
and suffers a € 25 million loss in 2022 following three robust years

At 31 December 2022

• Net asset value per share: € 7.93 (at 31 December 2021: € 10.71)

• Share price: € 6.00 (at 31 December 2021: € 7,98)

• Discount of share price versus net asset vaule: 24.31% (at 31 December 2021: 25.5%)

Fiscal year 2022

• Net loss for the financial year: - € 24,828,965 (- € 1.40 per ordinary share) against a profit of € 33,140,999 (€ 1.98 per ordinary share) for fiscal year 2021

• Negative return on equity of 14.70%

• 45% of dividend rights converted into shares. Capital increase of € 8,549,916

• New investments in unquoted companies Finquest and fruitcore robotics

• Successful exits from c-LEcta and Accell

Fiscal year 2023

• Proposal to simplify preference shares rights

Results

Quest for Growth closed the financial year with a loss of € 24,828,965 and with a negative return on equity of 14.7% that takes into account the dividend paid of € 1.02 gross on 21 April 2022 and the capital increase following the optional dividend. This shows that Quest for Growth did not escape the global stock market malaise. However, the decline was limited by several successful exits in the portfolio. In the venture and growth capital segment, Quest for Growth sold its stake in the German biotech company c-Lecta to the Irish company Kerry. In the portfolio of listed stocks, the fund accepted KKR’s bid for Dutch bicycle manufacturer Accell.

Quest for Growth shares saw their share price decline by 14.5% to a closing price of € 6.00 on 31 December 2022. This includes the dividend payment mentioned above. The discount of the share price in relation to the net asset value remained constant or decreased slightly to 24.3%, compared to 25.5% at the end of 2021.