Annual results

Phoenix Digital Assets PLC

28 June 2024

 

This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was inside information as stipulated under Regulation 11 of the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310 (as amended). Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Press release

28 June 2024

Phoenix Digital Assets PLC

("Phoenix" or the "Company")

Annual results

Notice of Annual General Meeting

Phoenix Digital Assets PLC (AQSE: PNIX), an investment company, is pleased to announce its audited results for the 12 months ended 31 December 2023.

Financial highlights

·	Post-tax profit for the year rose to £17.6m (2022: -£9.4m).
·	Change in value of digital assets under management rose 558% to £25.2m (2022: -£5.5m).
·	Total assets under management rose to £46.1m (2022: £25.1m).
·	Net cash stood at £0.7m (2022: £5.8m) as at 31 December 2023 following the Company's capital deployment into the digital assets markets.

Notice of Annual General Meeting

The Company will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 25 July 2024 at 3:00p.m. at the offices of Fladgate LLP, 16 Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5DG.

Details of the arrangements for this year's AGM are set out in the Notice of AGM. The Notice of AGM, together with the Form of Proxy, will be posted to shareholders on 2 July 2024.

Jonathan Bixby, Chairman of Phoenix, commented: "It has been an incredible year for Phoenix. We correctly predicted the upturn in the digital assets markets and deployed our capital to spectacular results - we have seen our profits increase by £27m year-on-year. In the post-period, we carried through on our promise of returning value to shareholders through a tender offer, returning over £33m. I'd like to thank the Board of Directors and our shareholders for their support in what has been a phenomenal year."

The Directors of Phoenix Digital Assets accept responsibility for this announcement.

For further information please contact:

Phoenix Digital Assets PLC
Jonathan Bixby Executive Chairman	[phone]
First Sentinel Corporate Finance Limited
Corporate Adviser Brian Stockbridge	[phone]
Tancredi Intelligent Communication UK & Europe Media Relations	[e-mail]

About Phoenix

Phoenix Digital Assets PLC invests in a diversified portfolio of cryptocurrency, and/or in companies or funds which have exposure to NFT or blockchain technology. The Company's leadership team have an extensive track record in the cryptocurrency sector and previously founded Argo Blockchain PLC, a global crypto miner. Phoenix is headquartered in London, UK, and its shares are listed on the Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market under the ticker symbol PNIX. https://www.getphoenix.co.uk

Notes

This announcement may contain "forward-looking" statements and information relating to the Company. These statements are based on the beliefs of Company management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Company management. The Company does not undertake to update forward‐looking statements or forward‐looking information, except as required by law.

Chairman's statement

I am delighted to report Phoenix Digital Assets PLC's full-year results for 2023.

This period has been the most successful in Phoenix's history. Our post-tax profit rose to £17.6m (2022 -£9.4m), an increase of £27m year-on-year. The value of our digital asset holdings surged since last year, increasing in value by £25.2m. The Company had a net asset value of £46.1m at the close of the period, an increase of 83.74% from 2022.

We changed strategic focus in 2023, moving from a fund predominantly investing in companies and assets related to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), to an investment company with the intention of becoming the premier large cap crypto currency fund in the UK. This strategic change was reflected in our name, which we changed from NFT Investments PLC to Phoenix Digital Assets PLC in January 2024. Phoenix better reflects our diverse range of crypto-assets and investments across our high performing fund.

In last year's results, we noted that the cryptocurrency markets had begun to recover, and we expected this trend to continue as the Bitcoin 'halving' approached. The halving is an automated process every four years following which the rewards of mining Bitcoin are halved, typically leading to an uptick in the Bitcoin price. Our prediction of an increase in the price of Bitcoin has been proven entirely correct, and as a result we have generated significant value for our investors.

The Bitcoin price rose from $16,625 as at 1 January 2023 to $42,823 as at 1 January 2024. The price continued to rise in the post-period, reaching $61,222 as at 24 June 2024 (source: CoinMarket Cap, 2024). Other cryptocurrencies have followed Bitcoin's positive trend, with the price of Ether increasing 40% between January 1 and 24 June 2024.

The price increase was spurred on by the US' Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approving the first Bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs) in January 2024, which increased inflows of institutional capital into the digital asset markets. We expect volatility in the digital asset markets to continue to decrease as institutional involvement rises.

Our investment success further widened the share price discount to NAV, supporting the Board of Directors' intention to return value to shareholders via a tender offer after the Bitcoin halving. In 2023 and the post-period we took a number of steps to facilitate the tender offer and correct the price discrepancy. In March 2023 the High Court of England and Wales confirmed the reduction of our share capital by way of cancellation of our share premium account, which paved the way for the tender offer.

Following shareholder approval at a General Meeting on 11 June 2024, we purchased 625,000,000 Ordinary Shares from our shareholders at the tender price of 5.39p, equal to Phoenix's NAV per share as at 21 May 2024, a 35% premium to the share price at the same time.

In total, we returned £33,687,500 to our shareholders, and reduced our issued share capital from 1,085,875,000 to 460,875,000, a reduction of 57.56%. This has successfully shrunk the distance between NAV and the Company's share price.

Our intention remains to create value for our investors by leveraging our team's expertise to generate returns in the digital asset markets. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our shareholders for their continued support and look forward to a successful 2024.

Jonathan Bixby, Executive Chairman

	Note	2023 £	2022 £
Revenue		-	-
Fair value movements (including impairment and exchange differences) in investments	10	(2,381,246)	(2,686,079)
Fair value movements in digital assets and tokens	9	25,263,683	(5,531,034)
		22,882,437	(8,217,113)
Share based payment	16	(153,184)	-
Administrative expenses	3	(2,530,188)	(1,556,872)
Impairment of intangible asset	9	(62,500)	-
Operating profit/(loss)		20,136,565	(9,773,985)
Finance income	5	-	402,083
Profit/(loss) before taxation		20,136,565	(9,371,902)
Taxation	7	(2,570,736)	-
Profit/(loss) after taxation and total comprehensive profit/(loss) for the year		17,565,829	(9,371,902)

Earnings/(loss) per ordinary share:
Basic earnings/(loss) per share (pence)	8	1.75	(0.93)
Diluted earnings/(loss) per share (pence)	8	1.66	(0.93)

		Group			Company
		2023	2022		2023	2022
	Notes	£	£		£	£
Non-Current Assets
Intangible assets	9	43,873,668	15,448,382		43,873,668	15,448,382
Investments	10	1,534,940	3,691,186		1,534,941	3,691,187
Total non-current assets		45,408,608	19,139,568		45,408,609	19,139,569
Current Assets
Trade and other receivables	11	1,284	125,765		388,356	157,837
Cash and cash equivalents	12	695,760	5,847,274		308,687	5,815,201
Total current assets		697,044	5,973,039		697,043	5,973,038
Total assets		46,105,652	25,112,607		46,105,652	25,112,607
Shareholders' equity
Share capital	15	1,009,000	1,003,000		1,009,000	1,003,000
Share premium	15	18,000	33,323,133		18,000	33,323,133
Share based payments reserve	16	3,049,183	2,925,908		3,049,183	2,925,908
Distributable reserve	15	33,359,133	-		33,359,133	-
Retained earnings		5,381,281	(12,241,657)		5,381,281	(12,241,657)
Total shareholders' equity		42,816,597	25,010,384		42,816,597	25,010,384
Non-Current Liabilities
Deferred tax liabilities	13	2,543,536	-		2,543,536	-
Total non-current liabilities		2,543,536	-		2,543,536	-
Current Liabilities
Trade and other payables	14	745,519	102,223		745,519	102,223
Total current liabilities		745,519	102,223		745,519	102,223
Total liabilities		3,289,055	102.223		3,289,055	102.223
Total equity and liabilities		46,105,652	25,112,607		46,105,652	25,112,607

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors and authorised for issue on 27 June 2024 and were signed on its behalf by: Nicholas Lyth - Director

	Share capital	Share Premium	Retained earnings	Share-based payments reserve	Distributable reserve	Total
	x	£	£	£	£	£
Year ended 31 December 2022
At 1 January 2022	1,003,000	33,323,133	(2,869,755)	2,925,908	-	34,382,286
Loss for the year and total comprehensive loss	-	-	(9,371,902)	-	-	(9,371,902)
At 31 December 2022	1,003,000	33,323,133	(12,241,657)	2,925,908	-	25,010,384
Year ended 31 December 2023
At 1 January 2023	1,003,000	33,323,133	(12,241,657)	2,925,908	-	25,010,384
Profit for the year and total comprehensive profit	-	-	17,565,829	-	-	17,565,829
Shares issued in the year	6,000	54,000	-	-	-	60,000
Share based payments	-	-	-	153,184	-	153,184
Deferred tax on share based payments	-	-	-	27,200	-	27,200
Warrants exercised in the year	-	-	57,109	(57,109)	-	-
Cancellation of share premium account	-	(33,359,133)	-	-	33,359,133	-
At 31 December 2023	1,009,000	18,000	5,381,281	3,049,183	33,359,133	42,816,597

¹ There were no transactions in the Subsidiary and thus no impact on the Statement of Changes in Equity

Share capital

Share capital represents the nominal value on the issue of the Company's equity share capital, comprising £0.001 ordinary shares.

Share premium

Share premium represents the amount subscribed for the Company's equity share capital in excess of nominal value.

Any transaction costs associated with the issuing of shares are deducted from share premium, net of any related income tax benefits.

Retained earnings

Retained earnings represent the cumulative net income and losses of the Group recognised through the statement of comprehensive income.

Share based payment reserve

Share based payment reserve represents the cumulative cost of share-based payments.

Distributable reserve

Distributable reserve represents the Share premium that was cancelled during the year as part of the intended share buyback process. These reserves will be utilised to implement the share buyback.

Profit/(loss) of Parent Company

As permitted by Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006, the statement of comprehensive income of the Parent Company is not presented as part of these financial statements. The Parent Company's profit after tax for the financial year was £17,565,829 (2022: £9,371,902 loss).

		Group			Company
		2023	2022		2023	2022
		£	£		£	£
Operating activities
Profit/(loss) for the year		17,565,829	(9,371,902)		17,565,829	(9,371,902)
Adjustments:
Loss on disposal of digital assets and tokens		8,260	65,548		8,260	65,548
(Profit)/loss on revaluation of digital assets and tokens		(26,150,407)	7,477,130		(26,150,407)	7,477,130
Loss on valuation of investments		711,109	2,258,239		711,109	2,258,239
Impairment of investments		1,491,767	-		1,491,767	-
Impairment of intangible assets		62,500	-		62,500	-
Share based payments		153,184	-		153,184	-
Foreign exchange		1,056,834	(475,901)		1,056,834	(475,901)
Finance Income		-	(402,083)		-	(402,083)
Deferred tax expense		2,570,736	-		2,570,736	-
Working capital adjustments:
Decrease/(increase) in trade and other receivables		124,481	-		(230,519)	(32,072)
Increase/(decrease)in trade and other payables		643,296	(22,204)		643,296	(22,204)
Net cash used in operating activities		(1,762,411)	(471,173)		(2,117,411)	(503,245)
Investing activities
Purchase of digital assets and tokens	9	(4,697,212)	(15,949,540)		(4,697,212)	(15,949,540)
Purchase of fixed assets investments	10	-	(817,958)		-	(817,959)
Sale of intangible fixed assets	9	1,248,109	780,138		1,248,109	780,138
Interest received		-	402,083		-	402,083
Net cash used in investing activities		(3,449,103)	(15,585,277)		(3,449,103)	(15,585,278)
Financing activities
Share issue		60,000	-		60,000	-
Net cash from financing activities		60,000	-		60,000	-
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents		(5,151,514)	(16,056,450)		(5,506,514)	(16,088,523)
Cash and cash equivalents at start of year	12	5,847,274	21,903,724		5,815,201	21,903,724
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year	12	695,760	5,847,274		308,687	5,815,201

 

END