Draper Esprit : Annual Results FY20

Draper Esprit (LSE: GROW, Euronext Growth: GRW), a leading venture capital firm investing in and developing high growth digital technology businesses, today announces its final results for the year ended 31 March 2020.

Financial Highlights

· NAV per share increase by 6% to 555 pence (year to 31 March 2019: 524 pence).

· Cash realisations of £40m (year to 31 March 2019: £16m), with further exits amounting to approx. £80m announced post year-end.

· Gross Portfolio Value increased by 18% to £703m (31 March 2019: increase of 144% to £594m).

· Gross Portfolio Fair Value increase of 10% with a £59m fair value movement in the year (31 March 2019: £140m, 58%).

· £90m invested by the Group (year to 31 March 2019: £226m including £106m via Earlybird), and a further £38m was invested by EIS/VCT (year to 31 March 2019: £35m).

· US$1.8bn raised by the core portfolio in the year (year ending 31 March 2019: US$1.6bn).

· Net Assets of £660m (31 March 2019: £619m).

· Operating costs (net of fee income) continue to be less than the targeted 1% of year-end NAV.

· Profit after tax of £40m (year to 31 March 2019: £111m).

· £34m available cash resources at year-end and undrawn debt facilities of £5m, further complemented by c.£50m from EIS and VCT funds (31 March 2019: £150m+).

Operational Highlights

· The value of the core portfolio companies has increased to £471m from £415m as at 31 March 2019.

· Invested in 9 new companies (including 4 via Earlybird VI*) and 19 existing portfolio companies (including 4 via Earlybird VI*) during the year.

· Committed to 4 new seed funds, bringing the total seed fund.

· of funds portfolio to 20 with total commitments of £39m. £13m drawn down at year-end, of which £7m was drawn during FY2020.

· Acquired the remaining interest in Encore Ventures LLP, the partnership which manages Draper Esprit's EIS funds.

· Appointment of Martin Davis as Chief Executive Officer in November 2019.

· A focus on scaling our investment capability and building out the infrastructure to support the next stage of our journey.

· Reacted quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic to safeguard employees, our investments and monitor the liquidity of the Company.

Post period-end

· Extended the term of the revolving credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank and Investec by 1 year to 2023 and increased its size by £10m to£60m in line with Draper Esprit's growing portfolio.

· Zynga Inc. announced their agreement to acquire Peak for $1.8bn, which will, subject to closing, indicate a fair value holding for Draper Esprit of approximately £80m, representing a fair value uplift of £26m in the year ending 31 March 2020 and a further approx. £12m anticipated post year-end (actual returns are subject to completion conditions, including FX movements, and acquirer share price movement with respect to the stock component).

· Simon Cook will be stepping down from the Board from 1 July 2020. Simon will remain with the Company as founding partner and focus on generating new deals and will continue as a board member for a number of portfolio companies.

· Actively appraising dealflow opportunities and making selective investments in high quality companies in markets that benefit from the accelerated transition to digital such as Cazoo (online car retailer).

· Portfolio companies continue to raise financing rounds (some after the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted the economy), such as Aircall and others as yet unannounced.

Availability of Annual Report and notice of AGM

The Annual Report and Accounts for the financial year ended 31 March 2020 and notice of the Annual General Meeting ('AGM') of Draper Esprit will be available today on Draper Esprit's website at http://draperesprit.com/.

The Annual Report and Accounts for the financial year ended 31 March 2020 is available here.

The RNS is available here.

Posted on 29 Jun 2020

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