Full year trading update and notice of results

RNS Number : 6154J

Molten Ventures PLC

28 April 2022

 

Molten Ventures plc

28 April 2022

Molten Ventures plc

("Molten Ventures", "Molten", the "Group" or the "Company")

Full year trading update and notice of results

Molten Ventures (LSE: GROW, Euronext Dublin: GRW), a leading venture capital firm investing in and developing high-growth digital technology businesses, today announces an update on our portfolio and NAV (unaudited) ahead of our Final Results for the year ended 31 March 2022, due to be announced on 13 June 2022.

Highlights:

· NAV per share (unaudited) is expected to be not less than 929p (31 March 2021: 743p).

· Gross Portfolio Value (unaudited) is expected to be not less than £1,529 million (31 March 2021: £984 million).

· Gross Portfolio increase in fair value (unaudited) is expected to be not less than £360 million (35% excluding currency movements) over the year (year to 31 March 2021: £359 million)

· Following growth in the investments and additional capital raised in the year, the platform's AUM (including EIS and VCT) is c.£1.8 billion.

· £311 million (year to 31 March 2021: £128 million) invested from the Group's balance sheet for the year ended 31 March 2022, with a further £45 million from EIS and VCT co-investment bringing the total for the year to £356 million (year to 31 March 2021: £162 million).

· Realisations generated cash proceeds in the year of £126 million (year to 31 March 2021: £206 million).

· Available cash as at 31 March 2022 of £174 million, consisting of Group balance sheet cash of £78 million, £35 million undrawn on the existing debt facility, and a further £61 million available for investment in the EIS/VCT funds.

· Net proceeds in the year of £108 million received from a successful equity raise in June 2021.

FY22 (year ending 31 March 2022) (unaudited)

We have seen the results of our investment both across the platform and the team reflected in our achievements during the year. Our employees and venture partners bring together their diverse experience in a stable and successful team and our proven, scalable platform is adaptable across investment cycles. Alongside growth in the Group's balance sheet, successful raises across our EIS and VCT funds have increased our assets under management and plans for our growth fund are on track, which will also bring additional third-party fees. We also completed the move to the Premium Segment of the Official List, as well as secondary listing segment of the Official List of Euronext Dublin. In November 2021, we unveiled a new name, Molten Ventures, and a new motto "Make More Possible". The new brand reflects our ongoing transformation: the rapid acceleration of investment, our expanding team, and our promotion this year into the FTSE 250.

The Gross Portfolio Value reflects growth driven by financing rounds at higher valuations and increased revenues. Key drivers of growth include Ledger, CoachHub, Thought Machine, and Aiven. The fall in value of our public company shareholdings has been offset by gains in the value of our private investments. The performance of our portfolio companies continues to be strong with average revenue growth rates in the core portfolio above 65%.

We continued to source high-quality investment opportunities and further developed our strategy of leading investment rounds, including follow-on investments within the existing portfolio. This has led to an increase in our investment cadence, but has not affected the discipline with which we invest. We deployed £356 million during the year across the platform, including both the Group's balance sheet investments and investments through our EIS and VCT funds. Of this, the Group deployed £311 million into high-growth technology businesses. This includes £112 million into new investments, £130 million into existing portfolio companies, £40 million in drawdowns in both our Fund of Funds programme and Earlybird partnership, and £29 million into co-investments via special purpose vehicles. The portfolio is well funded and we continue to see a healthy pipeline of investment opportunities in both primary and follow-on transactions as we start FY23.

FY22 saw a number of realisations from both trade sales and public listings, generating cash proceeds of £126 million, including from the sale of Trustpilot and UiPath shares, and from exits of Bright Computing, SportPursuit, Premfina, and Conversocial. This represents a 13% return on opening Gross Portfolio Value, meeting our target of between 10-15% return through the cycle.

Focus for FY23 (year to 31 March 2023)

Following our successful rebrand, move to the Main Market and promotion to the FTSE250 as a leading listed venture capital firm, we will continue to identify and support the vision of Europe's most successful companies, helping the best entrepreneurs and seed funds to make more possible, while maximising value for our shareholders.

The Group will continue to pursue excellence both in our portfolio, but also in the people, systems and governance around the team which allows Molten to capitalise fully on high-quality investment opportunities.

We will advance our Fund of Funds programme with an additional £75 million investment budget approved by the Board (in addition to the £75 million approved to date) to be deployed over five years and progress our plans to launch a growth fund as we continue to build third party assets and income. As a result of continued growth, Molten is looking to expand our debt facilities, ensuring that the Group remains well capitalised and able to continue to capture strong investment opportunities and take larger stakes in our established winners.

While last year's investment cadence was exceptional, with a larger than usual number of high-quality investment opportunities, maintaining the healthy near- and long-term deal pipeline as well as building third party AUM to generate fee income remains a priority for the coming year.

In recent months, challenges in the global macroeconomic environment and geopolitical developments, including the tragic events in Ukraine, have led to a period of volatility in global equity markets, with some softening of valuations following the rotation out of listed technology shares. While our current assessment is that Molten is not directly or materially exposed to sanctioned Russian or Belarusian companies/individuals, we will continue to monitor and take reasonable steps to mitigate any impact that the Russian invasion of Ukraine may have on the outlook of the Group. Notwithstanding the current macroeconomic uncertainties, the European technology market remains robust and the investment pipeline remains strong, and we believe that our scalable platform, the experience of our investment team and our disciplined, thesis-led approach means that we can continue to capitalise on the investment opportunities available to us and deliver value to our shareholders.

Martin Davis, CEO of Molten Ventures, commented:

"Last year was an exceptional year for investing in tech companies, supported by a healthy market environment for dealmaking. The 35% growth in fair value reflects the continued strength of the Group, and the judgement of our investment team in identifying and developing the technology entrepreneurs that are inventing tomorrow.

"We have achieved our objectives for the last year, and we remain focused on continuing to deliver on our strategy and further strengthen our portfolio of next-generation tech companies."

Notice of Full Year Results:

Molten Ventures announces that our Final Results are scheduled for release on 13 June 2022. Presentation and conference call details will be confirmed in due course.

-ENDS -

Enquiries:
Molten Ventures plc Martin Davis (Chief Executive Officer) Ben Wilkinson (Chief Financial Officer)	[phone]
Numis Securities Joint Financial Adviser and Corporate Broker Simon Willis Jamie Loughborough Havish Patel	[phone]
Goodbody Stockbrokers Joint Financial Adviser and Corporate Broker, Euronext Dublin Sponsor Don Harrington Charlotte Craigie Linda Clarke	[phone]
Powerscourt Public relations Robin O'Kelly Jane Glover	[phone] / [phone]

About Molten Ventures

Molten Ventures (LSE: GROW, Euronext Dublin: GRW) is one of the most active venture capital firms in Europe, developing and investing in disruptive, high growth technology companies. We believe it is our role to support the visionary entrepreneurs who will invent the future. We fuel their growth with our 'energy' in the form of long-term capital, access to international networks and decades of experience building businesses.

As at 30 September 2021, Molten Ventures is a shareholder in a diverse portfolio of 70+ companies with 17 of those part of our core portfolio which accounts for 68% of our holdings. Our core companies include Trustpilot, Graphcore, Revolut, Ledger, and Aiven. We invest across four sectors: Consumer Technology, Enterprise Technology, Hardware and Deeptech, and Digital Health and Wellness, with highly experienced partners constantly looking for new opportunities in each. We look for high-growth companies operating in new markets, with a serious potential for global expansion, strong IP, powerful technology, and management teams to deliver success. We also look for businesses with the potential to generate strong margins to ensure rapid, sustainable growth in substantial addressable markets.

Molten Ventures provides an opportunity for public market investors to access these fast-growing tech businesses, without having to commit to long term investments with limited liquidity. Since turning public in June 2016, we have deployed over £700m of capital in the portfolio and have realised over £380m to 30 September 2021.

For more information, go to:  https://www.moltenventures.com/  

 

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