(Alliance News) - Duke Royalty Ltd on Thursday said that it expects higher third quarter revenue than last year, after continuing to deliver growth following on from a successful first half.
For the six months ended September 30, the Guernsey-based royalty finance provider reported pretax profit of GBP10.9 million, up from GBP6.7 million a year prior.
Total cash revenue also increased, up 34% to GBP10.4 million from GBP7.8 million the previous year. Free cash flow rose to GBP6.6 million, up 44% from GBP4.6 million.
During the period, Duke Royalty completed a GBP20 million new equity capital raise in May, and deployed over GBP6 million of capital into pre-existent partners.
The company said that the portfolio as a whole had proved resilient, producing five out of five maximum positive adjustments during a period of high inflation.
Based on current trading, it now expects to achieve recurring cash revenue of GBP5.5 million in the next quarter, up 41% from GBP3.9 million last year. Trading for the year as a whole remains in line with expectations.
"Looking ahead, Duke is well-positioned for growth with additional liquidity ready for deployment. While we have taken a cautious approach to additional deployments in Interim 2023, we feel the current macroeconomic environment will translate to increased demand for our royalty finance solution from profitable, long-standing businesses as we compare favourably to other short term capital solutions," said Chair Nigel Birrell.
"We look forward to expanding our portfolio over the months ahead as we execute on an exciting pipeline of new opportunities which will drive further growth in our business."
For the first half, Duke Royalty paid two quarterly dividends of 0.70 pence each, equating to an annualised dividend of 2.80p. This was up from 2.25p last year.
Duke Royalty shares were trading 3.2% higher at 35.59p each in London on Thursday afternoon.
By Holly Beveridge; hollybeveridge@alliancenews.com
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