(Alliance News) - Adamas Finance Asia Ltd on Friday said its portfolio delivered a "resilient" performance against the challenges presented by Covid-19 in the first half of 2020, and it sees good investment opportunities going forward.
The company, which invests in small and medium enterprises across Asia, posted a pretax loss in the first half ended June 30 of USD698,000, widening from USD157,000 a year prior.
Net asset value per share at June 30 fell 12% to USD0.95 from USD1.08 a year before, due to a decrease in cash. Cash at year-end was USD3.0 million, down from USD5.4 million a year ago.
Chair John Croft said that the company's portfolio has remained resilient in the face of the challenges presented by Covid-19, with the underlying valuations being mostly unaffected.
Total assets owned by the company were worth USD104.9 million at the end of the period, up from USD96.8 million the year before.
Adamas Finance Asia ended the period with a cash position of USD3.0 million, down from USD5.4 million a year prior.
The company did admit that many companies in its portfolio were in some way affected. Croft said they were hurt either by lower-than-expected income or delays to business activities resulting from lockdown situations in different countries.
Adamas Finance Asia raised USD1.7 million through its corporate bond in the recent period and, after the reporting period, undertook its first equity raise, of GBP3.1 million.
He said: "The company is confident in the current valuations moving forward mainly because Adamas Finance Asia's investments are consistently structured with downside protection, as well as their diversified nature, and their location in a region which has learned well from previous outbreaks and is now reopening and recovering."
The company's investment manager, Harmony Capital Investors Ltd, continues to see good investment opportunities as Covid-19 further exacerbates the inability small and medium-sized enterprises to access capital. This ultimately reinforces the company's ability to invest in strong, well-managed but capital-starved companies, Croft said.
The company proposed no interim dividend, the same as a year ago.
Adamas Finance Asia shares were down 8.1% at 26.20 pence each on Friday morning in London.
By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com
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