Operational and Corporate Update

RNS Number : 5753F

Duke Royalty Limited

30 October 2018

 

30 October 2018

Duke Royalty Limited

("Duke Royalty", "Duke" or the "Company")

Operational and Corporate Update

Duke Royalty Limited (AIM: DUKE), a provider of alternative capital solutions to a diversified range of profitable and long-established businesses in Europe and abroad, is pleased to announce that the monthly payments made to the Company by its royalty partners Temarca B.V. ("Temarca") and Lynx Equity (U.K.) Limited ("Lynx UK") under their respective royalty agreements have both increased by the maximum 6% at their first annual adjustment, and have been backdated to their respective annual adjustment dates. The royalties will remain at that level until the next adjustment date under the terms of the agreements.

The Company also announces that Steven Russo and Ajay Shivdasani have joined the investment team.

In addition, the Company announces that it will release its interim results for the 6 months ended 30 September 2018 during the first week of December.

Annual adjustments

Each of Duke's royalty partners are subject to an annual adjustment, which triggers a reset of the monthly payment amount due to Duke, subject to a collar (a maximum adjustment up or down). The reset is calculated once a year, each year for the life of the royalty agreement, based on the gross revenue growth (or decline) of the royalty partner over the preceding twelve months. 

The annual adjustments for Duke's first two Royalty Partners, Lynx UK and Temarca have now been confirmed.  As preliminarily announced on 8 May 2018, Temarca and Lynx UK were tracking above the top end of the annual adjustment range, and the Company is pleased to report that both partners have now posted revenue growth of above 6% for their respective adjustment periods.  This has therefore led to an increase in the monthly payments due to Duke by 6% in both cases. Following these adjustments Temarca's payments to Duke will now total approximately £1.0 million annually (starting July 2018) and Lynx UK's will now total approximately £1.25 million annually (starting August 2018).

With regard to Duke's other partners, the first adjustment date for both Trimite and Brownhills is on 31 March 2019.  Based on management accounts received by Duke for the period to the end of September 2018, the year on year revenue performance for Trimite is currently up by more than 6% (based on a six-month period) and for Brownhills it is up by more than 10% (based on a ten-month period).   As such, Duke remains confident of a positive reset event as and when these two partners complete their first adjustment periods.

Neil Johnson, CEO of Duke Royalty, commented:

"It is great to see the solid revenue growth of our royalty partners, Temarca and Lynx, which has led to the annual royalty distributions from each being substantially increased.  I am also hopeful that Duke's shareholders will see a positive adjustment in 2019 from our third and fourth royalty partners, Trimite and Brownhills.

"This news encapsulates how our business model benefits investors. By partnering with private businesses looking for growth capital, Duke is well placed to benefit from their success and we are delighted to be receiving higher royalty payments from our inaugural investments. Thanks to Duke's high operating leverage, these types of positive annual adjustments, combined with future additional capital deployments, can produce a higher dividend pay-out to the Company's shareholders.

"I am pleased to also be able to announce the new appointments of Steve Russo and Ajay Shivdasani, whose significant investment experience has strengthened the Company's investment team and provide expertise necessary to grow the Company."

New appointments to investment team

The Company would like to welcome Steven Russo and Ajay Shivdasani who have joined Abingdon Capital Corporation, Duke's service provider, on a full-time basis. They will be dedicated to providing support to Duke and will add to the investment evaluation and due diligence resources of Duke.

Steven Russo has spent the past six years working primarily on mezzanine debt and select equity growth capital transactions as a former Vice President at Difference Capital Financial Inc. Steven has gained valuable transactional and due diligence experience working in the alternative finance sector, as well as investment monitoring and oversight.  Before this, Steven became a qualified Canadian securities lawyer at Wildeboer Dellelce LLP in Toronto.  

Steven has a dual J.D. and MBA degree from Queen's University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree, with honours, from York University.

Ajay Shivdasani had over three years of private-equity LBO transaction and deal origination experience at DW Healthcare Partners.  Ajay's private equity training and expertise, along with a complementary origination network will benefit the Company.   Mr. Shivdasani also worked for four years at Oliver Wyman, a global management consulting firm, where he advised leading financial services organizations.  Mr. Shivdasani also led the corporate development function of Altima Dental, the 2nd largest dental service organization in Canada.

Ajay holds an MBA Degree from INSEAD as well as a BASc in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto.

***ENDS***

For further information, please contact www.dukeroyalty.com, or contact:

Duke Royalty Limited	Neil Johnson/ Charlie Cannon-Brookes	[phone]
Grant Thornton UK LLP  (Nominated Adviser)	Colin Aaronson/ Samantha Harrison	[phone]
Cenkos Securities plc  (Joint Broker)	Julian Morse/ Michael Johnson	[phone]
Mirabaud Securities Limited (Joint Broker)	Peter Krens/ Edward Haig-Thomas	[phone]
Redleaf Communications (PR)	Elisabeth Cowell/ Ian Silvera / Tom Carnegie	[phone] [e-mail]

About Duke Royalty

Duke Royalty Limited provides alternative capital solutions to a diversified range of profitable and long-established businesses in Europe and abroad. Duke Royalty's experienced team provide financing solutions to private companies that are in need of capital but whose owners wish to maintain equity control of their business. Duke Royalty's royalty investments are intended to provide robust, stable, long term returns to its shareholders. Duke Royalty is listed on the AIM market under the ticker DUKE and is headquartered in Guernsey.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

 

END

 

 

UPDFKCDBPBDDPKB