Draper Esprit : Interim results for the period ended 30 September 2017

Posted by Isabella Cookson, 24 Oct 2017

Draper Esprit (AIM: GROW, ESM: GRW), a leading venture capital firm involved in the creation, funding and development of high-growth digital technology businesses, today announces its Interim Results for the period ended 30 September 2017.

Financial highlights
· Gross Primary Portfolio value* increased by 44% to £162.8 million (31 March 2017: £112.7 million)
· Net Assets including goodwill, of £266.8 million (31 March 2017: £150.7 million)
· NAV per share of 372 pence (31 March 2017: 370 pence)
· NAV per share, excluding goodwill, of 344 pence (31 March 2017: 319 pence)
· Profit after tax of £20.9 million (31 March 2017: £33.2 million)
· Additional capital raised of £100.0 million in plc (£95.3 million net) with £92.0 million cash on balance sheet at period end

Operational highlights
· £26.5 million deployed by plc with a further £12.0 million from EIS/VCT funds into next generation opportunities
· The Group has invested in 3 new and 6 existing portfolio companies.
· Gross primary portfolio fair value grew by 22%
· Core Portfolio** holdings have increased by 55% (£17.7 million invested and £25.4 million fair value growth)
· £100.0 million additional capital raised from new and existing shareholders by plc and £35.0 million across the EIS and VCT funds.
· Hired experienced Partner, Ben Tompkins who was formerly Managing Partner at Eden Ventures and tech investment banker at Broadview/ Jefferies where he was co-head of the Global Software, Services and Media practice.

*Gross primary portfolio is the gross value of the Company's investment holdings before deductions for carry and any deferred tax.
** Core Portfolio holdings is comprises: Graze, Trustpilot, M-Files, Conversocial, Lyst, Sportpursuit, Clavis Insights, Perkbox, Push Doctor and Graphcore

Simon Cook, CEO Draper Esprit commented:

'We set ourselves a financial benchmark of achieving 20% year on year growth in portfolio value in line with our historical record and are consistently achieving this. At the half year we have already delivered 22% growth in the portfolio and stand well positioned to deliver over the full year with significant cash balances remaining to deploy.

'Importantly, we are retaining the ability to hold and grow our companies for longer than our non-listed competitors can and with larger sums available for later rounds to maximise the opportunity and build large successful European technology businesses. We continue to find exciting new opportunities as technology innovation shows no sign of slowing, and our recent seed funds initiative is helping to forge key relationships at the very earliest stages.

'We are demonstrating that our model in action continues to work, with Net Asset Value growing substantially and we are on target to hit our expectations across all metrics for the year end.'