The value of Mercia Technologies’ (MERC) direct investment portfolio rose by 27 per cent to £66.1m for the full year, after the group made a £21.1m net investment across 17 companies. These included three new ‘emerging stars’ – selected holdings from Mercia’s third-party managed funds which it then injects with further capital from its own balance sheet. The stars in question were Intechnica, a Manchester-based services and software business with around £6m in annual revenues; Aston EyeTech, a provider of hardware and software products for ocular care; and Voxpopme, a video analytics platform.
For the existing portfolio, Mercia’s total net fair value gain came in at £2.8m against £4.3m in FY2017. On the one hand, Oxford Genetics – which develops synthetic biological molecules – performed particularly strongly, enjoying a £4.4m fair value gain after a £7.5m syndicated funding round. Conversely, Aim-quoted Concepta endured the most significant fair value decline at £2.5m, after its shares fell on commercial and developmental difficulties.
Broker Cenkos forecasts adjusted pre-tax losses of £2.5m and losses per share of 0.8p for the year ending March 2019 (FY2018: adjusted pre-tax profits of £2.7m and EPS of 0.6p).
| MERCIA TECHNOLOGIES (MERC) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 32p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 97m | |
| TOUCH: | 31-33p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 45p | LOW: 30p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 58 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 41p* | NET CASH: | £42.9m | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2014** | 0.7 | nil | na | nil |
| 2015*** | 0.5 | 2.0 | 0.9 | nil |
| 2016 | 1.8 | -1.7 | -0.8 | nil |
| 2017 | 6.7 | 1.0 | 0.5 | nil |
| 2018 | 10.2 | 1.6 | 0.6 | nil |
| % change | +52 | +61 | +10 | - |
| Ex-div: | na | |||
| Payment: | na | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £11.2m or 3.7p a share. **Pre-IPO figures. ***14-week period to 31 March 2015 | ||||
