6th Nov 2019 11:08
(Alliance News) - Frontier IP Group PLC said Wednesday its annual profit more than doubled on strong growth in revenue and the value of its portfolio.
Also, the intellectual property company said it plans to raise GBP3.5 million through a share placing, which will go towards supporting the ongoing needs of the business and making progress on its investment pipeline.
Although GBP3.5 million is the initial target, there is the ability to upscale the placing target to GBP4.0 million, subject to demand.
Frontier IP will look to issue a minimum of 7.0 million shares at a price of 50 pence per share, a 9.9% discount from its closing price on Tuesday of 55.5p.
Shares in Frontier IP - which is headquartered in Edinburgh - were down 8.1% at 51.00 pence on Wednesday in London.
The placing will be conducted via a bookbuilding process by sole broker and bookrunner N+1 Singer Advisory LLP. The fundraise is conditional on gaining shareholder approval at Frontier IP's annual general meeting on December 4.
Proceeds from the placing will go towards supporting the business's ongoing needs, providing resource to take advantage of future investment opportunities, and continued development of its current portfolio.
For the financial year to the end of June, Frontier IP reported pretax profit at GBP2.4 million, more than doubled from GBP902,000 the year before.
During the year, the company reported an unrealised profit of GBP3.9 million, up from GBP2.0 million the year before, mainly due to the movement in fair value of drug discovery firm Excientia and vaccine developer The Vaccine Group.
As a result, revenue for the period grew by 81% to GBP4.3 million from GBP2.4 million a prior year. Revenue from services and licence income grew by 40% to GBP418,000.
As at June 30, Frontier IP's portfolio value increased by 47% to GBP13.3 million from GBP9.0 million on the same date a year before.
Looking ahead, Frontier IP said it is confident its portfolio will grow in value.
"The year to June 2019 represented further strong progress for the group. Our innovative business model and committed approach to executing our strategy means we believe we are well placed to weather any market and political headwinds and in a good position to deliver another positive performance over the year to come," said Chief Executive Officer Neil Crabb.
By Dayo Laniyan; [email protected]
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