Half-year Report

RNS Number : 5686L

HgCapital Trust PLC

09 September 2019

 

HgCapital Trust plc INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2019 London, 9 September 2019:  HgCapital Trust plc ("the Company"), which provides investors with a listed vehicle to invest in unquoted software and service businesses managed by Hg, today announces its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2019. CONTINUED Strong NAV performance driven by ROBUST double-digit revenue and EARNINGS growth AND EXITS ABOVE BOOK VALUE

performance

	31 August 2019	30 June 2019	31 December 2018	% Total return1
Share price	£2.17	£2.16	£1.79	+22.5%
NAV per share	£2.45	£2.42	£2.16	+13.9%
FTSE All-Share Index				+13.0%
			June 2019 Movement
Net Asset Value	£984.3m	£975.1m	£805.0m	+£170.1m

¹ Assuming reinvestment of all historic dividends
Note: All figures have been adjusted for the 10:1 share-split in May 2019
Source: Hg, Factset

key Highlights FOR THE SIX MONTHS TO 30 JUNE 2019 NAV per share of £2.42, a total return of 13.9%. Share price total return of 22.5% to 30 June 2019. Interim dividend of 1.8 pence per share (2018 interim dividend of 1.6 pence per share). Strong revenue and EBITDA growth of 26% and 35% respectively across the top 20 investments (88% of the portfolio) over the last twelve months. Valuation multiple (EV/EBITDA) of 19.5x and net debt to EBITDA ratio of 6.3x for the top 20 investments. £65 million of cash returned to the Company and £107 million invested on behalf of the Company. Increased focus on improving liquidity in the Company’s shares, with a ten for one share-split in May 2019. Share issue in June 2019 raised £63 million (after all expenses) to fund future commitments to Hg funds and further co-investment in Hg portfolio companies. Outperformed the FTSE All-share over one, three, five, ten and twenty-year periods Over the last twenty years, Shareholders have seen a Total Return of 1,429% PORTFOLIO ACTIVITY OVER THE PERIOD Investments in the period include Transporeon Group, one of the world’s leading cloud-based logistics platforms, team.blue, a leader in mass hosting services for SMEs across Europe, and Litera Microsystems, a leading provider of end-to-end document lifecycle solutions to the legal and life sciences industries worldwide. Foundry sold to Roper Technologies at a 79% uplift to book value delivering a 2.1x investment multiple and a 22% gross IRR over the investment period. Continued M&A activity across the portfolio. year to date to 31 AUGUST 2019 Pro-forma NAV per share of £2.45, primarily reflecting unrealised currency movements since period end and the realisation of Register. Share price of £2.17, market capitalisation of £872 million, YTD performance of 23%. Pro-forma liquid resources post-completion of all announced transactions and the proposed dividend payable in October 2019, are £166 million (17% of 31 August pro-forma NAV). Pro-forma outstanding commitments of £342 million (35% of 31 August pro-forma NAV). We expect these to be drawn down over the next two years. Hg's Outlook It has been another strong period of performance for the Company with the underlying businesses continuing to see robust trading performance underpinning confidence in the ongoing growth of the strong and defensive portfolio. Hg continues to selectively invest in “sweet-spot” software and service businesses in areas or ‘clusters’ where we have many years of deep knowledge. Highly focused on making further accretive bolt‑on acquisitions into our portfolio companies. A focus on operational improvement continues to drive performance and deliver significant network benefits. We expect to see further liquidity events over the next twelve months through both exits and refinancings.

Strong earnings, realisations at uplifts to book value and supporting the management teams of the underlying businesses will continue to drive value for shareholders in HgCapital Trust plc Roger Mountford, Chairman of the Company, commented: "Over the twelve months to 30 June 2019, the top 20 companies, that make up 88% of our portfolio by value, reported sales growth of 26% and EBITDA growth of 35%. These are the strongest trading figures we have ever reported and evidence the quality of the businesses we own." - Ends - The Company's 2019 Interim Report, presentation, fact sheets and a video from the Manager to accompany the results are available to view at:  http://www.hgcapitaltrust.com/. For further details: HgCapital Trust plc Laura Dixon (Senior Investor Relations Manager, Hg) [phone] Brunswick Gill Ackers and Alice Gibb [phone] About HgCapital Trust plc HgCapital Trust plc, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: HGT.L), gives investors exposure through a liquid vehicle to a portfolio of high-growth private companies in the technology and tech-enabled sector. The selection of new investments and creation of value in these businesses are managed by Hg, an experienced and well-resourced private equity firm with a long-term track record of delivering superior risk-adjusted returns for its investors. For further details, please see www.hgcapitaltrust.com. For further details, see www.hgcapitaltrust.com and www.hgcapital.com

 

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