Last checked at 1 Jun 2023 07:00
1 June 2023
Duke Royalty Limited
("Duke Royalty", "Duke" or the "Company")
Trading Update
Duke Royalty, a provider of alternative capital solutions to a diversified range of profitable and long-established businesses in Europe and North America, is pleased to provide the following trading and operational update for its fourth financial quarter ending 31 March 2023 ("Q4 FY23") as well as guidance on trading for its first quarter of financial year 2024, ending 30 June 2023 ("Q1 FY24").
Financial Highlights:
· Recurring cash revenue for Q4 FY23 reached a new record of £5.7 million, an increase of 21% over Q4 FY22, and an increase on the prior quarter Q3 FY23
· Q4 FY23 total cash revenue was £5.8 million
· 0.70p interim dividend paid out in January 2023
Overview of quarterly revenue growth:
| Recurring Cash Revenue* | Total Cash Revenue** |
Q4 FY22 | £4.7 million | £6.7 million |
Q1 FY23 | £5.1 million | £5.1 million |
Q2 FY23 | £5.3 million | £5.3 million |
Q3 FY23 | £5.6 million | £5.6 million |
Q4 FY23 | £5.7 million | £5.8 million |
* Recurring cash revenue excludes buyback premium receipts and cash gains from equity sales
** Total cash revenue is monthly cash distributions from Duke's royalty partners plus cash gains received from the sales of equity assets and buyback premiums
Operational Highlights:
· During the quarter, Duke closed and drew down on the credit facility with Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited. The new credit facility is a 225 bps improvement in interest cost alongside an increase in the facility size to £100 million, replacing Duke's previous £55 million term and revolving facilities
· In Q4 FY23 Duke completed a new US$8.75 million royalty investment into Instor Solutions, Inc. a California-based product reseller and service provider for work related to the build-out and migration of data centres
· Duke also made a follow-on investment of £1.75 million into its existing royalty partner, InTec Business Solutions Limited ("Intec"), to facilitate InTec's acquisition of Frog IT Services Limited, a profitable specialist provider of IT support and cloud-based services to small and medium sized customer
Financial Forecast for Q1 FY24:
· Based on current trading, Duke expects to achieve recurring cash revenue of £6.0 million in Q1 FY24, delivering an average monthly revenue of £2.0 million for the first time in the Company's history, a significant milestone
· The £6.0 million of cash revenue would represent an 18% year on year increase (Q1 FY23: £5.1 million) and an increase on Q4 FY23
Neil Johnson, CEO of Duke Royalty, said:
"We are pleased to announce yet another quarter of strong financial performance and another interim dividend for our shareholders, despite the macroeconomic uncertainties. We continue to maintain a close relationship with our portfolio companies and are reassured of their resilience to trading in challenging market conditions.
"With the forthcoming quarter looking robust in terms of recurring cash revenue, we have confidence in continuing to deliver in the months to come and our pipeline remains strong. The current climate serves to accentuate the attractive qualities of royalty finance, and our supportive model has demonstrated its ability to help partners weather macroeconomic turbulence."
***ENDS***
For further information, please visit www.dukeroyalty.com or contact:
Duke Royalty Limited | Neil Johnson / Charles Cannon Brookes / Hugo Evans
| +44 (0) 1481 730 613 |
Cenkos Securities plc (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)
| Stephen Keys / Callum Davidson / Michael Johnson
| +44 (0) 207 397 8900
|
Canaccord Genuity (Joint Broker)
| Adam James / Harry Rees | +44 (0) 207 523 8000 |
SEC Newgate (PR) | Elisabeth Cowell / Alice Cho / Matthew Elliott | +44 (0) 20 3757 6882 dukeroyalty@secnewgate.co.uk |
About Duke Royalty
Duke Royalty Limited provides alternative capital solutions to a diversified range of profitable and long-established businesses in Europe and abroad. Duke Royalty's experienced team provide financing solutions to private companies that are in need of capital but whose owners wish to maintain equity control of their business. Duke Royalty's royalty investments are intended to provide robust, stable, long term returns to its shareholders. Duke Royalty is listed on the AIM market under the ticker DUKE and is headquartered in Guernsey.