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Syncona Ltd on Thursday said it launched a new portfolio company as it reported a fall in net asset value, citing a weaker US dollar. The life science investor said net asset value per share fell 5.2% to 178.9 pence per share as at September 30 from 188.7p at March 31. Syncona said the performance was mostly driven by a decline in Autolus Therapeutics PLC share price and a weaker US dollar, and was partially offset by valuation uplifts from private portfolio company financings and accretive share buybacks. Syncona has an 11% stake in Autolus, which is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of T effector cell therapies designed to offer cancer patients benefits over existing standard of care. Shares in Autolus had closed down 1.2% at $3.29 each on Wednesday in New York, and are down 16% over the past six months. Over the year so far, its shares are 52% lower. Syncona shares were 0.4% lower at 112.40 pence each on Thursday afternoon in London. Syncona’s life science portfolio was valued at £791.9 million as at September 30, up 0.7% from £786.1 million at March 31. The company declared no dividend for the half-year, unchanged from a year ago. Separately, Syncona announced the launch of a new portfolio company named Slingshot, the Syncona Accelerator. Slingshot is focused on accumulating and developing a pipeline of early-stage programmes identified from academia, Syncona, which provided an initial commitment of £12.5 million, said. ‘Slingshot will benefit from Syncona’s expertise in creating and building companies from early-stage science. It will focus on accumulating a pipeline of early-stage programmes, identified from academia, and accelerating their development towards the clinic. Through a high-quality management team, Slingshot will offer academic founders access to development expertise that is rarely available to singular early-stage programmes, as well as centralised resource, funding and operational support,’ Syncona said. Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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