Investing £50,000 in VCTs: is Puma VCT 13 worth a place?
Figures as at 11 November 2026. This is a general analysis, not personal advice.
Puma VCT 13 has a new £50 million offer open until 5 April 2027, and it is a fund many investors pass over because of its patchy dividend record. If you have £50,000 earmarked for venture capital trusts this tax year, here is what that money would actually buy, what you could realistically get back, and whether it deserves all, some or none of your allocation.
What £50,000 buys you
Subscriptions are priced at the latest NAV plus costs. Recent allotments have come in at roughly 121–130p a share depending on the fee route, so we’ll use 125p.
| Subscription | £50,000 |
| Shares received (at ~125p) | ~40,000 |
| Value at NAV on day one (121.7p) | ~£48,700 |
| Income tax relief at 20% | £10,000 |
| Net cost to you | £40,000 (about 100p a share) |
| Minimum hold to keep the relief | 5 years |
Two conditions matter. First, the relief is capped at your income tax bill for the year, so you need at least £10,000 of income tax liability in 2026/27 to get the full amount, and unused relief cannot be carried forward. Second, relief fell from 30% to 20% in April 2026, which makes the entry fee and the fund’s own performance more important than they used to be.
The dividend question
The objection most investors raise is that Puma VCT 13 paid nothing in calendar 2025. That is true, but it paid 3p in March 2026 and on 2 November 2026 declared another 3.5p, payable around 5 February 2027. On 40,000 shares, that 3.5p is about £1,400, tax-free.
| Paid | Per share | On 40,000 shares | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2021 | 6.5p | £2,600 | Pure Cremation exit |
| Mar 2022 | 4.5p | £1,800 | Pure Cremation exit |
| Dec 2022 | 5.5p | £2,200 | Tictrac exit |
| FY to Feb 2024 | nil | — | — |
| Dec 2024 | 3.0p | £1,200 | Realised gains |
| Calendar 2025 | nil | — | — |
| Mar 2026 | 3.0p | £1,200 | FY to Feb 2026 |
| Feb 2027 (declared) | 3.5p | £1,400 | CameraMatics part-sale |
The fund pays when it sells something, not on a fixed schedule. The target is an average of about 4.5–5p a year, and since 2021 it has averaged roughly 4p. On £50,000, plan on something like £1,600 a year on average, with some years at zero.
That lumpiness is not a flaw in itself. A dividend simply moves money from the fund’s NAV to your bank account; when it isn’t paid, it stays in the NAV. VCTs that pay a smooth 5% every year regardless of exits often fund it from investors’ own capital, which shows up as slowly falling NAV. An exit-funded payout is the more honest kind. Where a missing dividend genuinely costs you is liquidity, which we come to below.
Four outcomes after five years
Assumptions: 40,000 shares, dividends averaging 4p a year (20p in total), and an exit through the company’s buyback at a 5% discount to NAV. Net cost is £40,000 after relief.
| Scenario | NAV after 5 years | Total back | Gain on £40,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good: NAV grows 5% a year | ~155p | ~£67,000 | +£27,000 (about 11% a year) |
| Flat: NAV stays at ~122p | ~122p | ~£54,000 | +£14,000 (about 6% a year) |
| Drift: NAV falls 2% a year | ~110p | ~£50,000 | +£10,000 (about 4.5% a year) |
| Poor: NAV falls 30% | ~85p | ~£40,000 | Roughly break-even |
For comparison, £40,000 in a global tracker growing 7% a year would be worth about £56,000, with daily liquidity and, inside an ISA, no tax. So Puma VCT 13 beats a tracker only if its portfolio grows; in the flat case it slightly lags, and almost all of its return is the tax relief. The relief does give you a large cushion: the NAV can fall by about 30% before you lose money in cash terms.
The fund in brief
| Type | Generalist VCT, listed 2018, managed by Puma Investments (Shore Capital group) |
| Net assets | £225.9m (Feb 2026), more raised since |
| NAV per share | 121.46p (Feb 2026); 121.70p (Aug 2026) |
| Portfolio | 26 qualifying companies = 60% of NAV; 40% in short-dated bond funds awaiting investment |
| Biggest holdings | Pockit (8% of NAV, 1.8x cost), Influencer (7%, 8.5x), NRG Gyms (5%, 2.2x), Iris Audio (4%, 1.8x) |
| Costs | 2% management fee, 0.35% admin, ongoing charge ~2.4%; 20% performance fee above a 110p high-water mark; up to 3% promoter fee on new money |
What’s in its favour
- An honest dividend policy. Payouts follow exits rather than a marketing target.
- Real winners. Influencer is valued at 8.5 times cost, and several others are at 1.6–2.2x.
- A fresh cash exit. Most of the CameraMatics stake was sold for €5.7m after the year-end, with a minority stake kept for further upside.
- Breadth. The portfolio spans consumer brands, fintech, software and services, with little in pure SaaS.
- A narrow discount. Shares trade only a few percent below NAV, which suggests the buyback is working.
What to worry about
- Flat NAV. It peaked at 143.5p in February 2022 and has hovered around 121–124p for two years. Five-year NAV total return to June 2026 was 14.8%, under 3% a year.
- Write-offs. Dymag, Everpress and Ostmodern are at zero (about £10.6m of cost), and Le Col was sold at a loss.
- Cash drag and dilution. 40% of NAV is waiting to be invested, fees are charged on all of it, and the fund keeps raising large sums, which dilutes the impact of any big win.
- Concentration. Much of the unrealised gain sits in Influencer and Pockit; a write-down in either would show.
- Thin governance. Three directors, one linked to the manager, and no nominations committee.
- Liquidity. The quoted spread is wide (around 110p bid, 125p ask). The realistic exit is the company’s buyback, which is discretionary, not guaranteed.
How much of £50,000 should go here?
Putting the whole £50,000 into a single VCT concentrates you in one manager, one vintage and one buyback policy. A more robust approach is to split the allocation across two or three VCTs with different styles, for example:
- A slice in Puma VCT 13 (say £15,000–£20,000) for growth exposure and an exit-funded dividend.
- A mature, consistently paying generalist (British Smaller Companies VCT is a natural comparison) for steadier tax-free income.
- Optionally, a third manager with a different sector tilt, or the remainder held back for next tax year to spread entry points.
The same £10,000 of relief applies however you split it, as long as each subscription is for new shares and your income tax bill covers it.
Before you subscribe
- Check your tax bill. You need at least £10,000 of 2026/27 income tax liability to use the full relief on £50,000.
- Compare fee routes. Subscribing through a discount broker or direct can cut the initial charge; the difference across £50,000 can be over £1,000.
- Mind the six-month rule. Selling shares in the same VCT within six months before or after subscribing reduces your relief.
- Check the dividend timing. The 3.5p dividend has a record date of 15 January 2027. Confirm with the offer documents whether shares allotted before then qualify.
- Plan to hold beyond five years. Treat the buyback as a bonus, not a certainty.
- Read the prospectus dated 2 November 2026, particularly the risk factors and fee table.
Verdict
For a £50,000 VCT allocation, Puma VCT 13 earns a place as one component rather than the whole. The patchy dividend is a product of an honest, exit-led payout policy, and the newly declared 3.5p shows exits are starting to flow again. But four years of flat NAV, heavy cash drag and a few write-offs mean you are mostly buying the 20% relief plus a manager who still has to prove its recent vintage. Size it accordingly, and pair it with a steadier income payer.
Not financial advice. VCTs are high-risk, illiquid investments, tax rules can change, and the value of relief depends on your circumstances. Read the prospectus and consider taking regulated advice.