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LONDON (Alliance News) - Georgia Capital PLC on Friday reported a strong rise in net assets in the first quarter and separately announced an addition to its unlisted portfolio by acquiring 80% of an spare car parts retailer
At March 31, Georgia Capital's net asset value per share stood at GEL50.51, about GBP14.48, compared to GEL47.13, about GPB13.51, at the end of December, a 7.2% rise.
The Georgian focused investment company's total net assets increased 7.1% in the first quarter to GEL1.81 billion from GEL1.69 billion at the end of 2018.
The company said its portfolio value increased 6.9% in the period to GEL2.02 billion from GEL1.89 billion.
Georgia Capital said its listed portfolio companies generated a GEL119 million return in the quarter, primarily reflecting a recovery in Bank of Georgia's share price, which increased by 20% to GBP16.53. Georgia Capital owns 19.9% of Bank of Georgia, according to Morningstar.
The investment firm said its private portfolio "continued to demonstrate strong operating performance" in the quarter.
"Late-stage businesses delivered a GEL21 million investment return driven by year-on-year double-digit growth in Water Utility's first quarter earnings. Similarly, the early-stage portfolio companies continued their development to the next levels of their greenfield lifecycles. Even though the first phase of Mestiachala hydro power plant has been launched, we still carry the asset at book value. We expect to revalue the asset based on the appropriate peer group multiple in the coming quarters," said the company.
"We have started the year strongly and remain well positioned to take disciplined advantage of further investment opportunities. We continued to see high quality deal flow in the first quarter, while our portfolio value exceeded GEL2 billion for the first time," added Chief Executive Irakli Gilauri.
Going forward, Georgia Capital expects its positive momentum to continue, supporting a "sustainable growth" in its NAV per share.
Separately, the company announced it has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire 80% interest in car parts retailer Amboli LLC for GEL3.8 million.
Amboli currently holds a 1% market share of the GEL1 billion auto services and spare parts market in Georgia. Georgia Capital expects the company to report break-even earnings in 2019.
Gilauri said: "We remain committed to our investment principle of buying attractive service businesses. With this acquisition, we are buying a platform to gain access to the large and growing automotive services market in Georgia. The fragmented market provides us with an opportunity to increase our market share over the long term."
Shares in Georgia Capital were up 0.4% Friday at 1,010.00 pence each.