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LONDON (Alliance News) - BP Marsh & Partners PLC on Tuesday reported a drop in profit for the first half of its financial year, due to lower revaluation gains on investments and proceeds.
BP Marsh, which provides venture capital to financial services businesses, reported pretax profit for the six months to the end of July of GBP6.3 million, down from GBP11.9 million a year before.
This was due to a drop in unrealised gains from equity investment revaluations to GBP5.5 million from GBP11.7 million.
Net asset value per share stood at 333 pence as at July 31, down from 339p at the end of January, but up from 304p on the same date the year before. The equity value of BP Marsh's portfolio rose by 6.7% during the period.
During the period, BP Marsh acquired a 20% stake in ATC Insurance Solutions (Pty) Ltd for GBP2.8 million.
Portfolio company LEBC Holdings Ltd completed the acquisition of Aspira Corporate Solutions Ltd, and Nexus Underwriting Management Ltd acquired two specialist managing general agencies.
BP Marsh said it intends to pay a full-year dividend of at least 4.76 pence per share for the year ending January 31 in line with the prior year.
"The performance of our portfolio of eighteen investments has been pleasing during the period with the majority of our investments delivering strong returns. We expect this to continue for the remainder of the year," said Chairman Brian Marsh.
Shares in BP Marsh & Partners were up 1.3% at 286.80 pence on Tuesday.
