25th May 2018 09:35
LONDON (Alliance News) - Draper Esprit PLC on Friday said it intends to raise GBP115.0 million via share placing and subscription, to invest in European technology business, following double-digit profit growth in financial 2018.
The venture capital firm said it intends to issue about 27.4 million shares at a price of 420.00 pence each. This represents a discount of 6.7% to the closing mid-market price of 450.00p per share on Thursday. The stock was trading 0.4% higher on the day Friday at 452.00p per share.
Draper Esprit said it plans to use the new funds to invest digital European technology businesses in their early growth stage.
Currently, the company has around GBP570.0 million of assets under management in venture capital businesses in Europe.
"This fundraise follows increased investor demand for exposure to Europe's high growth, privately owned technology companies," said Chief Executive Simon Cook.
In a separate statement on Friday, Draper Esprit said its operating pretax profit more than doubled to GBP65.3 million in the year ended March from GBP33.3 million a year earlier.
Income from investments also rose year-on-year to GBP73.8 million from GBP37.4 million, while its portfolio value more than doubled to GBP243.5 million form GBP112.7million.
As a result, Draper Espirit saw a rise in net asset value per share to 431.00 pence as at the end of March compared to 370.00p recorded on the same day the year before.
Since its initial public offering in 2016, Draper Esprit has grown its team and invested in 20 new companies. During financial 2018, the company added French cryptocurrency and blockchain security company Ledger into its portfolio after making a GBP18.0 million investment.
"Draper Esprit is pleased to report strong performance and growth across the portfolio," added Cook. "We look forward to the next financial year with confidence and optimism."
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