23rd Mar 2020 12:37
(Alliance News) - Draper Esprit PLC said Monday it has conducted a review of its portfolio and believes it is "robust" enough to withstand the economic fallout from the Covid-19 outbreak.
"We are remaining close to our portfolio companies to assimilate the available information as the specific market implications and the impacts of the global governmental support become clearer. We remain well-financed with cash resources to provide support where necessary," the venture capitalist said.
Draper added: "We are actively modelling the potential impact of Covid-19 on our portfolio and although we anticipate a period of trading slowdown we remain very positive about the long term areas of growth in the markets our companies address such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing for remote working and digital health."
Draper said about 80% of its portfolio consists of companies with strong cash balance sheets and/or the ability to adjust costs to trade through a crisis lasting through 2020.
About 7% of the portfolio, Draper said, operate in industries which are more directly affected, such as travel, leisure and hospitality. The venture capital firm said it will work closely with these companies to navigate this period of uncertainty.
At September 30, Draper's portfolio had a gross value of about GBP683 million. The company has a debt facility of GBP50 million, of which GBP45 million is currently drawn with GBP36 million un-deployed.
"The efforts of the Draper Esprit team are focused on helping our smaller emerging portfolio companies and we believe we have sufficient funds to support them. Our investments are supported by strong syndicates of investors and we will be working with our portfolio companies to access additional capital should that be required," Draper added.
Shares in Draper Esprit were down 3.7% in London on Monday at 278.19 pence each.
By Paul McGowan; [email protected]
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