Gresham House Strategic (LON:GHS) plc, the AIM-listed investment company, this month, marks the third anniversary of the appointment of Gresham House Asset Management, as its fund management team, celebrating:
– Share price growth of 35.1% over the 3-year period, maiden dividend of 15p paid in 2017, and grown by 15% in 2018 to 17.25p
– A net asset value (NAV) per share increase of 27.3% over the last 3 years – compared to 15.5% and 16.1% for the FTSE All Share and FTSE Small Cap (ex-Investment Trusts) Indices respectively in the same period
– Portfolio deployed in ‘value’ investments that offer a higher forecast sales growth of 12.2% compared to the FTSE All-Share of 3.1%, whilst trading on a lower valuation (GHS Portfolio EV/EBITDA 7.8x versus 9.5x FTSE All-Share)
– Significant recent partial realisation of £9.6 million of the fund’s major investment, IMImobile, crystallising £4.96 million profit, a 19% IRR and 2.13x money multiple (GHS retains a 6.3% holding in IMImobile)
– Total realisations of £24.2m in the 3-year period, cumulatively generating £9.0m realised profits at 28.5% IRR and 1.60x money, significantly exceeding target returns
– Additional £1.2m returned to shareholders through share buybacks in 2017 and 2018
David Potter, Chairman, Gresham House Strategic plc, commented, “The GHS Fund has performed exceptionally well, with share price growth of over a third, and NAV per share growth of 27.3% since the 2015 restructuring of SPARK Ventures. This NAV growth represents an outperformance of more than 11.2% since inception versus the FTSE Small Cap Ex-Investment Trusts index. The focus remains on a continued hands-on approach, adding value through constructive engagement with investee stakeholders. I am pleased at the Fund’s progress which is testimony to our talented investment management team.”
Graham Bird, Fund Manager of Gresham House Strategic Plc stated “GHS has outperformed and achieved significant positive NAV appreciation whilst allowing for a progressive dividend policy to be initiated, supported by modest share buy-backs. I am excited by the attractive valuation characteristics and prospective growth of the portfolio to generate further strong total returns. The profitable realisations provide further potential for dividend growth alongside additional opportunities for the investment team to engage actively with more companies which can benefit from strategic, operational or management initiatives, in so doing identifying value creation catalysts in the small cap sector of the market.”
