Adams Plc remains in the red as geopolitical unrest drags on assets

Investor in distressed and dysfunctional assets Adams Plc blamed elevated trade tensions with China and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war for not returning posting another loss in its full year results.

The Aim-listed investment firm, which has stakes in medical device company Niox and computer vision tech firm Seeing Machines, saw its net assets decline from £5.11m to £4.98m in the year ended March 31.

And while the performance of its portfolio broke even, its ongoing running costs of £200,000 meant the firm slipped to an overall loss of £130,000, a considerable improvement on its loss of £2.37m the previous year.

The Isle of Man-based firm seeks to acquire interest in what it calls “special situation investment opportunities” that are distressed or dysfunctional. The value of those investments fell this year from £5.1m to £4.93m.

Michael Bretherton, Adams‘ chairman, said: “Elevated trade tensions with China, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and conflicts in the Middle East all point to continued uncertainties and risks going forward.

“In addition, many governments continue to face mounting fiscal challenges from rising debt service costs and sizeable additional spending pressures from ageing populations, climate change mitigation and increased defence spending in the face of growing geopolitical discord.”

The firm said recent falls in headline inflation and the brightening global economy should help its investments turn a corner, albeit in a modest way.

Bretherton added: “We remain confident in the underlying fundamentals, technologies and long-term potential for growth at the companies within our investment portfolio.”