Burford Capital (BUR) provides finance for companies with a civil litigation case that they are unable or unwilling to pursue themselves - usually because of the time involved and the cost. Burford then takes a cut of the amount awarded in the case of a successful conclusion, which funds tasty dividend payments. And by and large, Burford has backed winners all the way.
- Attractive yield
- Impressive track record
- Diversified revenue stream
- Strong investment return
- No certainty of winning legal cases
- Revenue stream rather lumpy
For investors, the problem is that legal cases don't really allow any chance of building a regular income stream. So revenue, and consequently dividend payments, tend to be rather lumpy. However, Burford's investment portfolio is getting a lot closer to maturity. All the investments made in 2009, for example, have now been resolved, delivering a 33 per cent rate of return. But around half the investments made in the following two years have yet to reach a conclusion, and only a third of investments made in 2012 have been concluded.
Burford has attracted criticism in the past for its relatively high cost base and control over the executives. Both have been addressed; costs fell 10 per cent last year, and, following a restructuring, the chief executive and chief investment officer can no longer receive external advisory, management or performance fees from the company. Nor can they advise other funds, making them reliant on dividends and share price appreciation for returns.
| BURFORD CAPITAL (BUR) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 121p | MARKET VALUE: | £247m | |
| TOUCH: | 118-123p | 12-MONTHHIGH: | 147p | LOW: 106p |
| FWD DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.9% | FWD PE RATIO: | 8 | |
| DISCOUNT TO FWD NAV: | -1.7% | NET CASH: | $58m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Net asset value (¢) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 172 | 15.9 | 8.8 | 4 |
| 2012 | 162 | 34.0 | 17.0 | 5 |
| 2013 | 172 | 42.5 | 20.0 | 5 |
| 2014* | 186 | 49.4 | 22.0 | 9 |
| 2015* | 203 | 56.8 | 26.0 | 10 |
| % change | +9 | +15 | +18 | +11 |
Normal market size: 2,000 Market makers: 8 Beta: 0.12 *RBC Capital Market estimates Profit and earnings figures adjusted £1=$1.7 | ||||
Burford has also broadened its revenue stream. Case details are usually withheld under the terms of agreements with its counterparties, but one case was revealed because its client, power generator Rurelec, had certain disclosure obligations, and gave its consent to reveal the details. Rurelec was pursuing an arbitration claim against the Bolivian authorities for the expropriation of one of Rurelec's power plants. The company did not need litigation finance, but found it near to impossible to secure a loan at an acceptable rate to expand the company. At this point, Burford stepped in with a $15m (£8.8m) senior loan at 12 per cent and a claim on some of the arbitration award. Following a successful resolution, Burford received back $26m, generating a 73 per cent rate of return.
At the end of 2013, Burford had $264m of ongoing investments. This investment portfolio deals with US litigation, but Burford also made an entry into the UK two years ago though the acquisition of Firstassist, now called Burford UK, a provider of after-the-event litigation insurance. This is where the defendant of a case buys insurance that will pay the expenses if the case is lost. It also gives Burford access to a successful underwriting division, and last year, Burford UK delivered a record profit of over $10m on $20m of revenue. In fact, over $150m of new business exposure was written last year, more than all of the two previous years combined.
