Mercia Asset Management PLC (AIM: MERC), the proactive, regionally focused specialist asset manager, today announces its half year results for the six months ended 30 September 2019.
Direct investment portfolio highlights
· £11.1million net invested in 16 portfolio companies during the period (H1 2019: £9.2million invested in 11 portfolio companies), including one new direct investment:
o £1.1million into Warwick Acoustics to continue its automotive product development
o £1.5million into Medherant as part of a £2.4million syndicated round
o £1.8million into Locate Bio as part of a £2.0million syndicated round
o £2.0million into Voxpopme as part of a £7.5million syndicated round to fund the company’s continued overseas expansion
o £0.5million into Clear Review, a new direct investment focused on the HR technology sector
· Net fair value increase of £3.2million (H1 2019: £2.6million)
· Continuing commercial progress made by a number of portfolio companies including nDreams and OXGENE (the new trading name of Oxford Genetics)
Managed funds’ developments
· Third-party funds under management (“FuM”) totalling £361.3million (H1 2019: £394.9million) of which:
o Venture capital FuM £209.6million
o Private equity FuM £60.4million
o Debt FuM £91.3million
Financial highlights
· Revenue increased 5.1% to £5.5million (H1 2019: £5.3million)
· Net expenses £0.9million (H1 2019: £0.7million)
· Operating profit £1.9million (H1 2019: £1.8million)
· Profit after tax £2.1million (H1 2019: £1.9million)
· Earnings per share 0.69 pence (H1 2019: 0.64 pence)
· Direct investment portfolio fair value increased to £102.0million (H1 2019: £77.8million)
· Unrestricted cash and short-term liquidity investments of £17.8million (H1 2019: £38.3million)
· Net assets £128.4million (H1 2019: £125.2million)
· Net assets per share 42.3 pence (H1 2019: 41.3 pence)
Mark Payton, Chief Executive Officer of Mercia, commented:
“We are six months into our three-year plan to double assets under management, move the Group to a profitable trading position and evergreen our balance sheet. We expect that this will be achieved through both organic growth and selective acquisitions. I am pleased to say that we have made a solid start to the year, demonstrating our ability to deliver for all our stakeholders. We have strong liquidity across our managed funds and a maturing balance sheet investment portfolio which is now attracting increasing third-party syndication, particularly from venture capital trusts. Mercia is now a highly differentiated Group which is poised for further growth. We remain confident in our ability to deliver strong returns for shareholders and fund investors alike over the near to medium-term.”
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