Higher Rates Will Help Our Loan Portfolio Says Horizon Tech CEO

Shares of Horizon Technology have surged 23% in the past month, although they are still down over 11% year-to-date. Robert Pomeroy, CEO of Horizon Technology Finance (HRZN), said the upswing is due to strong portfolio management and a robust pipeline. 'We grew the portfolio and at the same time had some portfolio exits which are an important part of our business because they help turn our portfolio over as well as gives us some bonus income,' said Pomeroy. Horizon Technology is a business development company (BDC) that lends to the technology, life science, healthcare information and cleantech industries. Horizon’s investment objective is to generate current income from the loans it makes and capital appreciation from the warrants it receives when making secured loans to venture capital backed companies. The company pays an 11.6% dividend. Among the companies in Horizon’s current portfolio, discount ticketing Web site ScoreBig is one in which Pomeroy sees a great deal of promise. He said the company also has investments in a number of 'exciting' life sciences companies.