LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares rose in Primorus Investments PLC on Thursday after it sharply narrowed its loss in 2018 after strong gains in investments.
Shares in the investment company were 13% higher at 0.12 pence on Thursday.
Primorus's pretax loss for 2018 narrowed to GBP4,000 from GBP947,000 in 2017.
The narrowed loss was mainly due to total gains on Available For Sale investments of GBP913,000 million from GBP41,000 the year before. Available for sale investments are assets that represent debt securities and other financial investments.
Total assets as at December 31 rose to GBP5.3 million from GBP5.0 million on the same date the prior year.
The investment company said the year had been successful with the addition of several new investments, and that the year was dominated by "portfolio acquisition, consolidation and rationalization through the participation in further funding rounds".
During the period Primorus Investments disposed its 10% stake in Horse Hill Developments Ltd for a net gain of GBP1.1 million.
"It is my firm belief that if we can demonstrate a few more successful exits in the coming year then, gains aside, there is a strong case for the overall discount to net asset value of the company to improve and thus by definition the share price. This is what we are working towards", Chair Jeremy Taylor-Firth said.
The board remains confident that the private and pre-IPO markets remain "significantly under-served and as such significant opportunities exist for the company going forward" and the company will "continue to seek out further investments in line with the company's investing strategy".
Primorus Inv. (PRIM)