Trading update for the six months ended 30 June 20

29 July 2020

Oakley Capital Investments Limited

 

Trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2020

 

Resilient performance despite COVID-19 disruption

 

Oakley Capital Investments Limited¹ (the "Company"), a listed investment vehicle providing investors access to the Oakley Funds², today announces a trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2020.

 

Interim highlights

·      Net Asset Value ("NAV") per share of 356 pence ·      Total NAV return per share of 4% (+13 pence) since 31 December 2019 ·      OCI invested £94.7 million and received proceeds of £291.3 million ·      Cash of £261.5 million ·      Outstanding Oakley Fund commitments of £528 million, including an Origin Fund commitment of €75 million ·      Buy-back and cancellation of 4.3 million shares

 

NAV growth

The Company's NAV as at 30 June 2020 is estimated to be £691 million, which represents a NAV per share of 356 pence. This is a total NAV per share return including dividends of 4% (+13 pence) since 31 December 2019 and 13% (+42 pence) since 30 June 2019. The largest drivers of NAV movement in the six months to June 2020 were:

·      Time Out (-26 pence) - Market closures and advertising decline as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns led to a share price fall of 68%. Successful £47 million refinancing completed in June ·      Inspired (+10 pence) - Sale of remaining stake at a 25% uplift to the December 2019 carrying value ·      Career Partner Group (+9 pence) - Record student registration to online courses drove fair value ·      FX (+16 pence) - Favourable exchange movements arising from a 7% appreciation of the euro against the pound

 

Portfolio company performance

During the period, the Oakley Funds were generally resilient to the challenges posed by COVID-19. This reflects the level of portfolio company bias towards software, tech-enabled services, online platforms and subscription-based revenue. The 15 portfolio companies can be separated into three COVID-19 impact categories: 

1.   Trading unimpacted or benefitting - five companies - 23% of NAV Business Service Software, Web Hosting and Education Technology businesses. Each grew their revenues at or above expectations in the period. Four of these five investments were made within the last 12 months and their fair value at 30 June 2020 remains at cost. 2.   Some short-term disruption - seven companies - 27% of NAV Online Consumer Platforms, Telecoms and Education businesses. Whilst there has been a short-term impact on financial performance, the full year results are expected to be close to original budgets. 3.   Significant lockdown impact - three companies - 28% of NAV Physical footprint, direct to consumer businesses including Time Out, North Sails and Iconic BrandCo (the consumer brand platform that has to date acquired Alessi and Globe-Trotter). Whilst each suffered material disruption between March and May, they remain strong businesses with both North Sails and Iconic BrandCo enjoying a surge in activity levels in June and July. Time Out's performance remains restricted by its Market closures, though these have started to reopen.

 

Proceeds

During the period, the Company's share of proceeds from Fund III's exit of WebPros, the partial realisation of atHome, the refinancing of Career Partner Group, Fund II's exit of Inspired, as well as the exit of OCI's direct holding in Inspired and the repayment of Time Out loans together contributed £291.3 million.

Investments

In the six months to 30 June 2020, OCI invested £94.7 million through: a re-investment in WebPros  and two bolt-on acquisitions for Ocean Technologies Group via Fund IV, the Iconic BrandCo's acquisition of Globe-Trotter via Fund III, equity participation in Time Out's refinancing via Fund I and a direct investment, and direct debt investments provided to North Sails.

During the period, OCI also completed the buy-back and cancellation of 4.34 million shares at an average price of 173 pence per share.

Cash & Commitments

The Company has no leverage and has cash on the balance sheet of £261.5 million at 30 June 2020, comprising 38% of NAV, placing OCI in a strong position in the current environment. In July 2020 a commitment of €75 million was made to the Oakley Capital Origin Fund, the latest Oakley Fund, taking total outstanding OCI Fund commitments to £528 million. This will be deployed in new investments over a five-year period.

The Company expects to report its interim results for 2020 on Thursday 10 September 2020.

 

- ends -

 

For further information please contact:

 

Oakley Capital Limited

+44 20 7766 6900

Steven Tredget, Investor Relations

 

Greenbrook Communications Limited

+44 20 7952 2000

Alex Jones / Gina Bell / James Williams

 

Liberum Capital Limited (Financial Adviser & Broker)

+44 20 3100 2000

Gillian Martin / Owen Matthews

 

Notes:

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014

LEI Number: 213800KW6MZUK12CQ815

¹ About Oakley Capital Investments Limited ("OCI")

OCI is a Specialist Fund Segment ("SFS") traded investment vehicle, which provides access to the Oakley Funds². It is a liquid vehicle that aims to provide capital growth and dividends to investors.

An introduction to OCI video is available at https://oakleycapitalinvestments.com/videos/

² The Oakley Funds

Oakley Capital Private Equity L.P. and its successor funds, Oakley Capital Private Equity II, Oakley Capital Private Equity III, Oakley Capital IV and Oakley Capital Origin Fund are unlisted lower-mid to mid-market private equity funds with the aim of providing investors with significant long-term capital appreciation. The investment strategy of the Funds is to focus on buy-out opportunities in industries with the potential for growth, consolidation and performance improvement.

The Investment Adviser

Founded in 2002, Oakley Capital Limited has demonstrated the repeated ability to source attractive growth assets at attractive prices. To do this it relies on its sector and regional expertise, its ability to tackle transaction complexity and its deal generating entrepreneur network.

Important information

Specialist Fund Segment securities are not admitted to the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority. Therefore the Company has not been required to satisfy the eligibility criteria for admission to listing on the Official List and is not required to comply with the Financial Conduct Authority's Listing Rules.

The Specialist Fund Segment is intended for institutional, professional, professionally advised and knowledgeable investors who understand, or who have been advised of, the potential risk from investing in companies admitted to the Specialist Fund Segment.