Last checked at 10 May 2021 07:00
10 May 2021
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 abroad, is pleased to provide the following trading and operational update for its fourth financial quarter ended 31 March 2021 ("Q4 FY21"), and to provide guidance on trading for the first quarter of the Company's financial year ended 30 June 2021 ("Q1 FY22").
Highlights:
· Cash revenue for Q4 FY21, being cash distributions from Duke's Royalty Partners and cash gains from sales of equity assets was in line with expectations, totalling £2.5 million. This represented a small like for like increase from the previous quarter once the positive effects of redemptions premiums are removed
· In January, Duke completed a follow-on investment of £2.2 million into its existing royalty partner Step Investments Limited ("Step"). Duke's funds were used by Step to acquire a majority equity stake in the Dublin-based private education subsidiary City Education Group and to facilitate the acquisition of a majority interest in Adtower Digital Media, a profitable Irish business within the digital out of home advertising sector
· In February, Duke announced the successful investment of £6.2 million into a new royalty partner, Fabrikat, a long standing, profitable fabricator of steel products supplying the UK street lighting and guardrail markets
· In March, Duke announced a follow-on investment of £4.5 million into its existing royalty partner United Glass Group Limited ("UGG") to allow UGG to complete the acquisition of London Architectural Glass, a UK supplier of bespoke architectural glass to premium residential, educational and heritage projects throughout the UK
· Also in March, Duke announced the exit of its investment in three river cruising vessels through the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Duke Royalty Switzerland, to Starling Fleet Holding AG. Headline consideration for the sale was €11.6 million plus interest
· Based on current trading, Duke expects cash revenue for Q1 FY22 to increase to £2.8 million
Neil Johnson, CEO of Duke Royalty, said:
"I am pleased to report that Q4 FY21 was a positive and busy quarter for Duke with several new investments completed and one royalty partner exited. During the quarter we also successfully transitioned Chief Investment Officers with Peter Madouros taking over from Jim Webster, who remains an important part of Duke as the new Chairman of the Investment Committee.
"Importantly, after quarter end Duke successfully raised £35 million in an oversubscribed equity placing. This fundraise gives Duke over £70 million of available liquidity to deploy into its expanding pipeline and to take advantage of the increasing opportunities available in the alternative financing market. We look forward to providing updates on this in due course."
***ENDS***
For further information, please visit www.dukeroyalty.com or contact:
Duke Royalty Limited | Neil Johnson / Charlie Cannon Brookes / Hugo Evans
| +44 (0) 1481 730 613 |
Cenkos Securities plc (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)
| Stephen Keys / Callum Davidson / Julian Morse / Michael Johnson | +44 (0) 207 397 8900
|
Canaccord Genuity (Joint Broker)
| Adam James / Georgina McCooke | +44 (0) 207 523 8000 |
SEC Newgate (PR) | Elisabeth Cowell / Richard Bicknell / Megan Kovach | + +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.