Venture capital company Draper Esprit (GROW) only listed on the junior market in June this year, using £64m of the proceeds to acquire an investment portfolio of technology companies from its Irish subsidiary. While this makes judging the comparative performance of the group during the first half of the year impossible, there are signs it has a good eye for investments.
The year-to-date cumulative turnover of the portfolio of 24 digital companies is up by almost a third on the 2015 calendar year, and the fair value of the investment group's portfolio increased by the same amount since it listed. Cash was ploughed into nine new companies, including £3m in health tracking app LifeSum. Chief executive Simon Cook says helping early-stage technology companies transfer to the US market is an important part of developing its European portfolio companies. "When we really get involved is helping them internationalise," he says. Healthy snack manufacturer and retailer Graze, in which Draper has invested £3.7m, is a good example. It recently launched in more than 4,000 stores in the US.
The group invests in companies for the long term, unlike other venture capital companies operating as limited partnership agreements. The latter usually have a fixed investment term of 10 years. "The biggest technology companies, whether it be Google or Facebook, take some time to reach maturity," says Mr Cook.
House broker Numis expects adjusted net asset value of 319p per share at the end of March 2017.
DRAPER ESPRIT (GROW) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 355p | MARKET VALUE: | £144m | |
| TOUCH: | 350-360p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 356p | LOW: 302p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | na | PE RATIO: | 6 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 352p | NET CASH: | £22m | |
| Half-year to 30 Sep | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015* | na | na | na | na |
| 2016 | 0.7 | 26.5 | 64 | nil |
| % change | - | - | - | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na *Prior to group formation £1=$1.24 | ||||
