12th Mar 2025 07:00
Schroder British Opportunities Trust plc
Net Asset Value as at 31 December 2024
Schroder British Opportunities Trust plc (the "Company") announces its unaudited net asset value ("NAV") as at 31 December 2024 was £84.1 million or 113.76p per share (30 September 2024: £79.4 million or 107.39p per share), following the quarterly valuation of the Company's private equity holdings. This represents an increase of 6.37p per share (5.9%) compared with the NAV reported at the quarter end.
The Company's daily NAV calculation re-values the public company holdings on a daily basis, and the private equity holdings quarterly post period end. This latest quarterly valuation of the private equity holdings will be reflected in the daily unaudited NAV per share as of 12 March 2025, which will be published later today.
Portfolio
As at 31 December 2024, the Company had 31 portfolio company positions comprising 10 private and 21 public companies.
Financial performance (unaudited)
Attribution Analysis (£m) | Public | Private | Money Market | Net (debt)/cash | Other | NAV |
Value as at 30.09.2024 | 21.1 | 51.2 | 8.5 | 0.8 | (2.2) | 79.4 |
Investments | - | 4.6 | - | (4.6) | - | - |
Realisations for cash | (0.4) | - | (4.5) | 4.9 | - | - |
Fair value gains / (losses) | 2.5 | 2.3 | 0.1 | - | - | 4.9 |
Costs and other movements | - | - | - | - | (0.2) | (0.2) |
Value as at 31.12.2024 | 23.2 | 58.1 | 4.1 | 1.1 | (2.4) | 84.1 |
The 5.9% increase in NAV, from £79.4 million at 30 September 2024 to £84.1 million at 31 December 2024, comprised:
· Public holdings: 3.2%
· Private holdings: 2.9%
· Money market funds: 0.1%
· Cost and other movements: (0.3)%
The company's public equity holdings saw an aggregate increase in fair value of £2.1m over the quarter ended 31 December 2024. The best performing portfolio companies over the period included travel retailer On the Beach and vanadium flow battery manufacturer Invinity Energy Systems. The portfolio experienced negative performance from holdings in global LED lighting brand Luceco and software, security, and cloud services provider Bytes Technology.
The Company's private equity holdings saw an aggregate fair value increase of £2.3 million (+4.5%) during the quarter ending 31 December 2024. This was principally driven by upward valuations for Headfirst, Learning Curve and Rapyd. During the quarter, Headfirst has been benefiting from its recent merger with Impellam, resulting in a positive impact on the company valuation. After some softening of demand during the first half of 2024 which lead to a reduction in valuation, Learning Curve experienced a pick-up in Q4 2024, leading to an upward revaluation. The increased valuation for Rapyd during the quarter was a result of the progress in the acquisition of PayU. The only negative contributor to NAV during the quarter was Cera Care, this was driven by a capital raise which resulted in a dilution of SBOs holding. The business is performing well and was recently named in the 2025 The Times 100 fastest growing companies list.
Investment activity
During the period, the company made an investment into Acturis, a leading global insurance software provider offering administration, distribution, and underwriting capabilities.
On the public side, we exited our position in women's fashion manufacturer and distributor Sosandar. The company has recently announced a change in strategy which included the opening of physical stores and less focus on promotional activity, resulting in lower predicted revenues. We exited due to having less conviction in the new strategy.
Top 10 holdings
Holding | Quoted / unquoted | Fair value as at 30 September 2024 (£'000) | % of total investments | Fair value as at 31 December 2024 (£'000) | % of total investments |
Expana[1] | Unquoted | 10,056 | 13.9 | 10,088 | 12.4 |
Pirum | Unquoted | 7,030 | 9.7 | 7,253 | 8.9 |
Cera | Unquoted | 7,605 | 10.5 | 7,114 | 8.7 |
EasyPark | Unquoted | 5,997 | 8.3 | 6,093 | 7.5 |
CFC Underwriting | Unquoted | 5,870 | 8.1 | 6,073 | 7.5 |
Waterlogic | Unquoted | 5,835 | 8.1 | 5,898 | 7.3 |
Headfirst | Unquoted | 4,224 | 5.8 | 5,203 | 6.4 |
Rapyd | Unquoted | 3,842 | 5.3 | 4,474 | 5.5 |
Acturis | Unquoted | - | - | 4,412 | 5.4 |
Watches of Switzerland | Quoted | 2,062 | 2.9 | 2,418 | 3.0 |
[1] Expana, formally known as Mintec, rebranded in June 2024.
Enquiries:
Schroder Investment Management Limited Katherine Fyfe (Company Secretarial) Kirsty Preston (PR) | 020 7658 6000
|
Peel Hunt Liz Yong, Huw Jeremy, Luke Simpson (Investment Banking) Alex Howe (Sales) | 020 7418 8900 |
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Schroder Brit