Dunedin Enterprise Year Ended 31 December 2014

RNS Number : 9707H

Dunedin Enterprise Inv Trust PLC

20 March 2015

 

  For release 20 March 2015

Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust PLC ("the Company")

Year ended 31 December 2014

Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust PLC, the private equity investment trust which specialises in investing in mid-market buyouts, announces its results for the year ended 31 December 2014.  This report covers the results of Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust PLC together with its subsidiaries ("the Group") for the year ended 31 December 2014.

Financial Highlights:

·     Net asset value total return of -0.4%  in the year to 31 December 2014

·     Realisations of £6.1m in the year

·     New investment of £16.0m in the year

·     Tender offer undertaken for £5.2m

·     Final dividend of 4.7p per share

Comparative Total Return Performance

Year to 31 December 2014	Net Asset value*1	Share price	FTSE Small Cap (ex Inv Cos) Index
One year	-0.4%	-15.8%	-2.7%
Three years	2.3%	25.8%	90.8%
Five years	37.6%	50.7%	89.2%
Ten years	70.3%	42.1%	85.0%

^*1 - taken from 31 October for ten years

Shaun Middleton, Managing Partner of Dunedin LLP ("Dunedin"), the UK mid-market private equity house which manages Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust PLC commented "Within the last twelve months, the Trust has committed £16m to new investment.  This includes the Dunedin led management buyout of EV Offshore, which designs, manufactures and provides high performance video cameras that are used to diagnose and analyse problems in oil and gas wells, as well as follow-on investments into Hawksford, Premier Hytemp and Red.

More broadly, there has been a continued focus on driving value creation across the investment portfolio through organic and acquisitive growth. For example, in late 2014, CitySprint completed the seventeenth acquisition that it has made since 2010 when the Trust initially invested, solidifying its position as the largest privately owned same day distribution company in the UK and amongst the top five same day distribution companies in the world. 

"Dunedin Enterprise-backed businesses have made a total of eight follow-on acquisitions in the last twelve months, enabling them to considerably expand their international reach.  Dunedin Enterprise is focussed on investing in UK headquartered businesses with a market leading position in their niche and the potential for international expansion, and provides investors with one of the very few access routes to lower mid-market businesses of this nature."

For further information please contact:

Graeme Murray Dunedin LLP   0131 225 6699 0131 718 2310            07813 138367

Corinna Osborne /  Emily Weston Equity Dynamics 07825 326 440 / 07825326442 [e-mail] [e-mail]

Chairman's Statement

Dunedin Enterprise is the only UK investment trust with an ongoing mandate to invest exclusively in the UK lower mid-market for private (unquoted) businesses.  It thus represents for investors a unique opportunity to access this part of the private equity market.

The Trust operates a distribution policy whereby a proportion of capital proceeds from realised investments is returned to shareholders.  This aims to maximise the use of capital resources within the Trust.  A total of £44.3m has now been returned to shareholders since the introduction of this policy in November 2011, in addition to dividends distributed of £11.0m.

Results

After taking account of dividends paid during the year of 16.5p per share, there has been a small reduction in net assets per share during the year.  In addition £5.2m has been returned to shareholders by way of a tender offer at a price of 475p per share, details of which are set out below.  The performance is to a material extent a function of the nature of private equity.  There tends to be a cycle of investment and consolidation, followed by a period of disposals when uplifts in valuations tend to be greater.  As Dunedin Buyout Fund II matures, disposals will be made.  Pricing is currently high and the market for good private companies is strong.

The net asset value per share as at 31 December 2014 was 510.6p, after allowing for last year's final dividend of 16.5p, resulting in a total return to shareholders of -0.4%.  The share price total return over the same period was -15.8%.   At the time of writing the share price is 342p, representing a discount of 33% to the net asset value per share.

The fall in the share price is disappointing.  This has led to a wide discount to net asset value and is largely a reflection of the poor recent performance of the Trust.

A final dividend of 4.7p is proposed at a cost of £1.0m, which is payable on 22 May 2015 following the AGM.  A reduced dividend is proposed this year due to a lower level of income generated from realisations.

Portfolio

One new investment, in EV Offshore, was made during the year representing a total investment of £7.1m.  EV designs, manufactures and deploys cameras which are designed to diagnose and analyse problems in oil and gas wells.  Follow-on investments were made in Hawksford, Premier Hytemp and Red.  The main realisation in the year was Trustmarque, a provider of software management services, which generated a loss of £2.7m. Trustmarque discovered it had accounting system issues which resulted in a material reduction in maintainable earnings.  This led to a significant reduction in available bank funding and a trade sale of the business.

Trading performance of the portfolio has been mixed.  Substantial upward valuations were made with respect to CitySprint, the same day delivery business, and Weldex, the crawler crane hire company, both of which are trading well.  Red, the IT staffing business, was written down substantially due to poor trading.  Whilst most other portfolio companies are trading in line with budget, the overall performance has been unremarkable and this is reflected in their valuations.

The UK economy has performed well relative to other European economies during 2014 and the outlook for 2015 is for reasonable growth.  This should be reflected in the trading patterns of the portfolio.  Whilst the fall in the price of oil should benefit most portfolio companies, it has had an adverse impact on the prospects for Premier Hytemp, the oil and gas services company, which has already taken action to reduce its overhead base.  The growth of EV Offshore, which also operates in this sector, is likely to be impacted to a lesser extent by the reduced price of oil.

As at 31 December 2014, the portfolio consisted of Dunedin managed investments representing 79%, European funds 12% and cash 9%.  The Trust has outstanding commitments of £54.2m to Dunedin funds, £9.6m to European funds and cash or near cash of £9.9m.  In addition the Trust has a bank facility of £20m which expires on 27 February 2017.  It is expected that £40m of the total outstanding commitments will ultimately be drawn down over the remaining life of the funds. The Board is comfortable with the balance between uncalled commitments and cash resources given the expected rate of new investment.

A total of £16.0m was invested during the year of which £11.6m was invested by Dunedin funds and £4.4m was drawn down by European funds. Further details are contained in the Manager's review.

Tender Offer

As reported at the half year, a tender offer was approved by shareholders in May 2014 for 5% of the issued share capital at a price of 475p per share, representing a 10.3% discount to the net asset value per share as at the 31st December 2013. Under the tender offer, £5.2m was returned to shareholders.

A total of £44.3m has now been returned to shareholders since the introduction of the distribution policy in November 2011.

Board Changes

My predecessor, David Gamble, retired from the Board at the end of the AGM last May.  He had been a Director of the Trust for thirteen years, and Chairman for the last two years.  I should like to thank him, on behalf of shareholders, for his very substantial contribution.

We are currently in the process of recruiting a new non-executive Director with the help of search consultants.

Outlook

The unpredictable outcome of the general election in May 2015 and the possibility of an EU referendum all contribute to a climate of political uncertainty which has existed since the issue of Scottish independence began to dominate the political debate some two years ago.

Given this backdrop, it is increasingly hard to predict the prospects for the UK economy.  Relative to its European partners, the UK appears to demonstrate reasonable growth and falling unemployment, but it is not immune to external influences, as the fall in the price of oil has demonstrated.

Despite this uncertain backdrop the portfolio is mature and the prospects for exits are good.

Duncan Budge

Chairman

19 March 2015

Manager's Review

In the year to 31 December 2014 the net asset value per share has moved from 529.3p to 510.6p. After taking account of a final dividend for 2013 of 16.5p (paid in 2014), the movement in the year equates to a total return of -0.4%.

The Trust's net asset value decreased from £116.3m to £106.6m over the year. This movement is stated following a tender offer of £5.2m and dividend payments totalling £3.6m.

This movement in net assets can be explained as follows:

	£m
Net asset value at 1 January 2014	116.3
Unrealised value increases	12.1
Unrealised value decreases	(9.8)
Realised loss over opening valuation	(3.7)
Tender offer to shareholders (excluding costs)	(5.2)
Dividends paid to shareholders	(3.6)
Other revenue and capital movements	0.5
Net asset value at 31 December 2014	106.6

Tender Offer

In 2014 the Trust undertook a tender offer for 5% of the share capital of the Trust at a price of 475p per share which represented a 10.3% discount to the most recently published net asset value per share as at 31 December 2013.  The amount returned to shareholders under the tender offer amounted to £5.2m. This takes the total returned to shareholders via tender offers under the Distribution Policy to £44.3m.

Portfolio Composition

Dunedin Enterprise makes investments in unquoted companies through Dunedin either directly or via its managed funds. In the past the Company has made commitments to funds managed by third parties. The last such commitment was made in 2009 and, following the policy change in November 2011, no further commitments will be made to funds managed by third parties.

The investment portfolio can be analysed as shown in the table below.

	Valuation at 1 January 2014 £'m	Additions in year £'m	Disposals in year £'m	Realised movement  £'m	Unrealised movement £'m	Valuation at 31 December 2014 £'m
Dunedin managed	75.1	11.6	(2.4)	(4.3)	4.0	84.0
Third party managed	13.6	4.4	(3.7)	0.6	(1.7)	13.2
	88.7	16.0	(6.1)	(3.7)	2.3	97.2

New Investment Activity

A total of £16.0m was invested in the year to 31 December 2014.  Of this total, £11.6m was invested in Dunedin managed funds and £4.4m was drawn down by European third party funds.

In June 2014 an investment of £5.9m was made in EV Offshore Limited ("EV") with a further £1.2m being invested in November 2014. EV designs, manufactures and provides high performance, ruggedised video cameras that are used to diagnose and analyse problems in oil and gas wells. It offers a highly specialist service, providing skilled engineers to operate its cameras in the harshest of drilling conditions. The high quality video and still images produced by EV's cameras allow oil and gas well operators to identify problems and design appropriate solutions. This rapid identification of problems provides operators with significant savings.  EV is based in Aberdeen and Norwich, with R&D and manufacturing facilities in Norwich. It has a further presence in 17 worldwide locations across Northern Europe, Canada, USA, West Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australasia.  The business currently employs 100 staff.

In March 2014 a further investment of £1.3m was made in Hawksford, enabling the company to acquire the Singapore-based corporate services provider, Janus Corporate Solutions.  This is the fifth acquisition made by Hawksford since it was backed by Dunedin in October 2008 and reflects the underlying growth strategy to expand the business internationally.  Established in 2009, Janus has over 1,500 clients and has experienced strong growth year-on-year, which is expected to continue. 

There were also follow-on investments made in Premier Hytemp (£0.6m) and Red (£0.3m).  The investment in Premier Hytemp was to assist with the financing for capital expenditure on machinery to expand the product offering of the business.  The investment in Red was made to support the working capital of the business. 

Within the European funds, £2.6m was drawn down by Innova/5 and £1.8m by Realza Capital. 

Innova made two new investments in the year.  In January 2014 an investment of  £1.1m was made in Wirtualna Polska, a leading internet portal company operating in Poland.  A further £1.1m was invested in Delecta, a leading branded manufacturer of home-baking and home-cooking products and ingredients.  The remaining £0.4m was drawn by Innova to meet management expenses and operating costs of the fund.

Realza made one investment during the year.  An investment of £1.7m was made in Grupo Dolz a Spanish based manufacturer and seller of aftermarket water pumps for the automotive industry.  A European market leader, the company aims to expand via its subsidiaries in Brazil, Argentina and China.  A further £0.1m was drawn for management fees and operating expenses of the fund.

There were drawdowns totalling £2.3m made during the year by Dunedin managed funds for management fees.

Realisations

During the year a total of £6.1m was generated from portfolio realisations.

As noted in the Chairman's Statement, the investment in Trustmarque was realised through a trade sale generating proceeds of £1.6m.  During the year Trustmarque identified that over a number of years its recognition of revenue had been over-stated due to accounting system issues.  This discovery resulted in a material reduction in the maintainable earnings of the company.  The company operated with a significant level of bank debt and the reduction in maintainable earnings resulted in the bank requiring its exposure to be reduced materially.  We therefore concluded that the best outcome for investors was to seek a sale of the business which was achieved in September 2014.  The proceeds of £1.6m compared with a cost at 31 December 2013 of £4.3m.

During the year Innova/5 returned a total of £1.5m to the Trust.  The sale of Emitel, the provider of managed analogue digital TV and radio broadcasting in Poland, to a US infrastructure fund generated proceeds of £1.4m.  The investment returned 2.0x the original cost.

Realza Capital returned £2.0m during the year of which £1.4m resulted from the sale of Hofmann, a manufacturer and seller of digital photobooks, representing a return of 2.3x on its original cost.  In addition £0.6m was distributed by Realza due to strong cash generation from GTT which provides tax management services to local public entities in Spain.

Following a period of disappointing trading the investment in OSS Environmental was realised by way of a trade sale to Hydrodec, generating proceeds of £0.3m.

Deferred proceeds totalling £0.8m were received from the realisations of Capula, etc.venues and Practice Plan.

Cash and commitments

As at 31 December 2014 the Trust had cash and near cash balances of £9.9m all of which are denominated in Sterling.  The Trust has a revolving credit facility with Lloyds of £20m.  The facility is available until 27 February 2017.

The Trust has undrawn commitments to Dunedin managed funds of £54.2m and a further €12.3m (£9.6m) of undrawn commitments to the two remaining European funds.  It is expected that £40m of the total outstanding commitments will ultimately be drawn over the remaining life of the funds.

Unrealised movements in valuations

In the year to 31 December 2014 there were valuation uplifts generated from the following investments: Weldex (£4.0m), CitySprint (£3.0m), Enrich (£1.7m), EV (£1.3m) and Kee Safety (£1.1m).

The maintainable earnings of Weldex have increased by 26% during the year, enabling the company to be valued on an earnings rather than net assets basis.  The company has benefited from an increase in construction activity during the year across a number of areas.  This included construction of a wind turbine test site at Hunterston, an oil and gas re-furbishment at Nigg, a power station re-furbishment at Port Talbot and several other large infra-structure and construction projects.

CitySprint's maintainable earnings have increased by 18% during the year.  Growth has been generated both organically and through acquisition.  There have been four acquisitions made this year, further expanding the company's network of same day couriers in the UK.  Organic growth has been generated from online retail fulfilment and in healthcare.  CitySprint now support Hermes in delivery of the John Lewis/Waitrose Click and Collect service and Hermes Parcelshops.  Within healthcare, contracts have been won in relation to pathology and home delivery of medicines.

Two of the most recent investments, EV and Kee Safety, have generated strong maintainable earnings growth during the year.  Kee Safety's maintainable earnings have increased by 12% during the year, enabling the company to be valued on an earnings basis rather than cost.  The increase in maintainable earnings has been driven primarily by organic growth in the US with the growing installation of group fall arrest systems.  EV was acquired in June 2014 and has traded strongly since the investment was made, enabling it to also be valued on an earnings basis.  Growing demand for its high performance, ruggedised video cameras and engineers to analyse problems in oil and gas wells has been generated globally.

During the year the proceeds from the court action taken against the vendor of Enrich were recovered, leading to a valuation increase of £1.7m.

The most significant valuation reductions in the year to 31 December 2014 were at Red (£5.9m) and U-POL (£1.4m).

Red, the global IT staffing business focussed, on the SAP technical recruitment market, experienced a 53% fall in maintainable earnings as a result of continuing lower net margins in the Contracts Division and a lower level of activity in the Permanent Division.  This has been compounded by start-up costs incurred in the US for the creation of a Consulting Division.  During the year Dunedin commissioned a market and business review by market consultants which concluded positively that its target market represents an attractive opportunity.

U-POL, the manufacturer of branded automotive products, was impacted by the strength of Sterling in a number of territories resulting in the erosion of customer margins.  This caused delays in payments and the placing of subsequent orders, particularly in Africa.  Maintainable earnings fell by 17% in the year.

The majority of portfolio companies are budgeting an increase in maintainable earnings during 2015.  Included within portfolio company valuations is accrued interest of £9.1m (£8.5m).

Valuations and Gearing

The average earnings multiple applied in the valuation of the Dunedin managed portfolio was 7.6x EBITDA (2013: 7.1x), or 9.3x EBITA (2013: 8.0x). These multiples continue to be applied to maintainable profits.

Within the Dunedin managed portfolio, the weighted average gearing of the companies was 2.2x EBITDA (2013: 2.3x) or 2.7x EBITA (2013: 2.8x). Analysing the portfolio gearing in more detail, the percentage of investment value represented by different gearing levels was as follows:

Less than 1 x EBITDA                                                                                                            24%

Between 1 and 2 x EBITDA                                                                                                    17%

Between 2 and 3 x EBITDA                                                                                                    49%

More than 3 x EBITDA                                                                                                            10%

Of the total acquisition debt in the Dunedin managed portfolio companies the scheduled repayments are spread as follows:

Less than one year                                                                                                                 13%

Between one and three years                                                                                                 19%

Between three and five years                                                                                                 37%

More than 5 years                                                                                                                   31%

Fund Analysis

The table below analyses the investment portfolio by investment fund vehicle.

	31 December 2014 %
Direct	11
Dunedin Buyout Fund I	-
Dunedin Buyout Fund II	50
Dunedin Buyout Fund III	15
Equity Harvest Fund	3
Third Party managed	12
Cash	9

Portfolio Analysis

Detailed below is an analysis of the investment portfolio by geographic location and cash reserves as at 31 December 2014.

	31 December
	2014
	%
UK	79
Rest of Europe	12
Cash	9

Sector Analysis

The investment portfolio of the Company is broadly diversified. At 31 December 2014 the largest sector exposure of 34% remains to the Support Services sector, a diverse sector in itself.

	31 December
	2014
	%
Automotive	2
Construction and building materials	9
Consumer products & services	3
Financial services	12
Healthcare	5
Industrials	33
Support services	34
Technology	2

Valuation Method

	31 December
	2014
	%
Cost	7
Earnings - provision	20
Earnings - uplift	68
Net assets	5

Year of Investment

In the vintage year table below, value is allocated to the year in which either Dunedin Enterprise or the third party manager first invested in each portfolio company.

	31 December
	2014
	%
<1 year	13
1-3 years	19
3-5 years	37
>5 years	31

Dunedin LLP

19 March 2015

Ten Largest Investments   

(both held directly and via Dunedin managed funds) by value at 31 December 2014

	Approx.			Percentage
	percentage	Cost of	Directors'	of net
	of equity	investment	valuation	assets
Company name	%	£'000	£'000	%
CitySprint	11.9	9,838	18,914	17.8
Weldex	15.1	9,505	10,251	9.6
Hawksford	16.0	5,637	8,781	8.2
EV Offshore	10.7	7,078	8,445	7.9
C.G.I.	41.7	9,450	8,072	7.6
Kee Safety	9.4	6,275	7,390	6.9
Realza	8.9	6,493	7,074	6.6
Formaplex	17.7	1,732	6,758	6.4
Innova/5	3.9	6,531	5,626	5.3
U-POL	5.2	5,657	4,799	4.5
		68,196	86,110	80.8

 Consolidated Income Statement

				2014						2013
	Revenue		Capital		Total		Revenue		Capital		Total
	£'000		£'000		£'000		£'000		£'000		£'000
Investment income	1,711		-		1,711		6,487		-		6,487
Gains/(losses) on investments	-		(1,218)		(1,218)		-		(4,990)		(4,990)
Total income	1,711		(1,218)		493		6,487		(4,990)		1,497
Expenses
Investment management fee	(104)		(311)		(415)		(182)		(545)		(727)
Management performance fee	7		22		29		(121)		(363)		(484)
Other expenses	(633)		-		(633)		(659)		-		(659)
Profit/(loss) before finance costs and tax	981		(1,507)		(526)		5,525		(5,898)		(373)
Finance costs	(138)		(413)		(551)		(133)		(399)		(532)
Profit/(loss) before tax	843		(1,920)		(1,077)		5,392		(6,297)		(905)
Taxation	137		162		299		(634)		506		(128)
Profit for the year	980		(1,758)		(778)		4,758		(5,791)		(1,033)
Basic return per ordinary share
(basic & diluted)	4.6p		(8.3)p		(3.7)p		19.9p		(24.2)p		(4.3)p

The total column of this statement represents the Income Statement of the Group, prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the EU. The supplementary revenue and capital columns are both prepared under guidance published by the Association of Investment Companies. All items in the above statement derive from continuing operations.

All income is attributable to the equity shareholders of Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust PLC.

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

for the year ended 31 December 2014

Year ended 31 December 2014

	Share capital £'000	Capital redemption reserve £'000	Capital Reserve realised £'000	Capital reserve - unrealised £'000	Special Distributable Reserve £'000	Revenue account £'000	Total retained earnings £'000	Total equity £'000
At 31 December 2013	5,492	2,434	62,832	(11,649)	47,600	9,558	108,341	116,267
Profit/(loss) for the year	-	-	(9,971)	8,213	-	980	(778)	(778)
Purchase and cancellation of shares	(275)	275	(5,309)	-	-	-	(5,309)	(5,309)
Dividends paid	-	-	-	-	-	(3,624)	(3,624)	(3,624)
At 31 December 2014	5,217	2,709	47,552	(3,436)	47,600	6,914	98,630	106,556

,

Year ended 31 December 2013

	Share capital £'000	Capital redemption reserve £'000	Capital Reserve realised £'000	Capital reserve - unrealised £'000	Special Distributable Reserve £'000	Revenue account £'000	Total retained earnings £'000	Total equity £'000
At 31 December 2012	6,438	1,488	81,915	(6,717)	47,600	6,474	129,272	137,198
Profit/(loss) for the year	-	-	(859)	(4,932)	-	4,758	(1,033)	(1,033)
Purchase and cancellation of shares	(946)	946	(18,224)	-	-	-	(18,224)	(18,224)
Dividends paid	-	-	-	-	-	(1,674)	(1,674)	(1,674)
At 31 December 2013	5,492	2,434	62,832	(11,649)	47,600	9,558	108,341	116,267

Consolidated Balance Sheet

As at 31 December 2014

	31 December 2014 £'000	31 December 2013 £'000
Non-current assets
Investments held at fair value	98,371	93,043
Current assets
Other receivables	269	593
Cash and cash equivalents	8,726	23,484
	8,995	24,077
Total assets	107,366	117,120
Current liabilities
Other liabilities	(810)	(670)
Current tax liabilities	-	(183)
Net assets	106,556	116,267
Capital and reserves
Share capital	5,217	5,492
Capital redemption reserve	2,709	2,434
Capital reserve - realised	47,552	62,832
Capital reserve - unrealised	(3,436)	(11,649)
Special distributable reserve	47,600	47,600
Revenue reserve	6,914	9,558
Total equity	106,556	116,267
Net asset value per ordinary share (basic and diluted)	510.6p	529.3p

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

for the year ended 31 December 2014

	31 December 2014 £'000	31 December 2013 £'000
Operating activities
Profit / (loss) before tax	(1,077)	(905)
Losses on investments	1,218	4,990
Interest paid	551	532
Decrease in debtors	324	708
Increase in creditors	140	439
Other non cash movements	199	(228)
Net cash inflow from operating activities	1,355	5,536
Taxation
Tax recovered	116	-
Servicing of finance
Interest paid	(551)	(532)
Investing activities
Purchase of investments	(16,025)	(18,458)
Purchase of 'AAA' rated money market funds	(13,395)	(17,213)
Sale of investments	6,108	27,276
Sale of 'AAA' rated money market funds	16,629	20,171
Net cash inflow / (outflow) from investing activities	(6,683)	11,776
Financing activities
Purchase of ordinary shares	(5,309)	(18,224)
Dividends paid	(3,624)	(1,674)
Net cash (outflow) from financing activities	(8,933)	(19,898)
Effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash held	(62)	(3)
Net (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents	(14,758)	(3,121)
Cash and cash equivalents at the start of the year	23,484	26,605
Net (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents	(14,758)	(3,121)
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year	8,726	23,484

Notes to the Accounts

1. Preliminary Results

The financial information contained in this report does not constitute the Group's statutory accounts for the years ended 31 December 2014 or 2013. The financial information for both 2014 and 2013 is derived from the Group's statutory accounts for 2014 and 2013 which were approved by the Board on 19 March 2014 and 19 March 2015 respectively. The auditor has reported on those accounts. Their report for both 2014 and 2013 was (i) unqualified, (ii) did not include a reference to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their report and (iii) did not contain a statement under section 498(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006. The statutory accounts for 2013 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies.  The statutory accounts for 2014 will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies following the Company's annual general meeting in May 2015.

2.       Dividends

			Year to 31  December 2014 £'000		Year to 31  December 2013 £'000
Dividends paid in the year			3,624		1,674

The final dividend of 4.7p for the year ended 31 December 2014 and will be paid on 22 May 2015 to shareholders on the register at close of business on 1 May 2015.  The ex-dividend date is 30 April 2015.

3.         Earnings per share

	Year to 31 December 2014	Year to 31 December 2013
Revenue return per ordinary share (p)	4.6	19.9
Capital return per ordinary share (p)	(8.3)	(24.2)
Earnings per ordinary share (p)	(3.7)	(4.3)
Weighted average number of shares	21,277,808	23,894,866

The earnings per share figures are based on the weighted average numbers of shares set out above.  Earnings per share is based on the revenue profit in the period as shown in the consolidated income statement.

4.       Contingent assets

Following the repayment of VAT on management fees received in 2011 discussions are ongoing with HMRC regarding the payment of interest on a compound basis relating to the reclaim of VAT on management fees.  The amount and timing of any recovery remains uncertain and accordingly no amount has been provided for in the financial statements.

ENDS

 

END

 

 

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