04 March 2024

Duke Capital Limited

("Duke Capital", "Duke" or the "Company")

Increased Equity Stake in United Glass Group

Duke Capital Limited, a leading provider of hybrid capital solutions for SME business owners in Europe and North America, is pleased to announce it has increased its equity stake in United Glass Group ("UGG") from 30.0% to 73.8% through a £2.9 million secondary share purchase from existing shareholders. UGG is a progressive and service-orientated group of architectural glass processing companies that has been operating in the UK market since the early 1980s. 

Highlights:

·        This investment aligns with Duke's vision to deepen its engagement with its high-performing portfolio companies. By increasing its equity position, Duke reaffirms its confidence in UGG's potential for sustained success and reinforces its commitment to the company's growth trajectory

·        This transaction rewards UGG's management team for the strong financial performance that they have delivered to date while ensuring that significant potential future value remains available to them from a further exit event and that the core executive team remain dedicated and aligned with the long term interest of all stakeholders

·        UGG has a pipeline of attractive acquisition targets which underpins Duke's confidence in the Company's long-term growth potential

·        Duke also retains the right, but not the obligation, to provide additional senior secured debt funding to UGG to finance its future acquisitions with Duke's current debt exposure to UGG being £12.0m

Neil Johnson, CEO of Duke Capital, said:

"We have been invested in UGG since 2018 and during this time the Company has achieved significant growth and proven itself to be a highly successful partner. Their long-standing track record and strong potential for future growth means that it makes perfect sense to increase our equity stake in the business."

Mark Harrison, Managing Director of UGG, said

"We are thrilled to deepen our partnership with Duke Capital through this equity transaction which demonstrates Duke's confidence in UGG's growth prospects and strategy.  The core operating team at UGG remains unchanged and is determined to continue to grow the business both organically and via M&A to generate additional future equity value for all shareholders."  

Duke Capital Portfolio

A full list of Duke's current Partners is included for reference on the Partners page of the Company's website: www.dukecapital.com/partners

***ENDS***

For further information, please visit www.dukecapital.com or contact:

About Duke Capital

Duke is a leading provider of hybrid capital solutions for SME business owners in Europe and North America, combining the best features of both equity and debt.

Since 2017, Duke has provided unique long-term financing which eliminates re-financing risk and necessity for a short-term exit by providing a unique 'corporate mortgage' while also aligning its returns to grow with the success of the business.

Duke is focused on generating attractive risk-adjusted returns for shareholders and has a track record of achieving this across market cycles. It's three investment pillars are capital preservation, attractive dividend yield, and to provide upside upon exits.

Duke is listed on the AIM market under the ticker DUKE and is headquartered in Guernsey.