Advent 2, a venture capital trust managed by Advent Ventures, the UK private equity firm, suffered three write-offs last year and saw the net asset value per share plummet 40%, highlighting the troubled state of technology investment.

The trust struggled to secure follow-on funding for its existing investments or to find exits, thereby doubling the unrealised loss on the valuation of its investments from £3.4m (€4.9m) last year to £6.5m this year. Its total loss for the year to the end of February 2003 was around six times higher than last year, at £5.4m.