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14 May 2015 07:00
14 May 2015
LMS Capital plc
AGM statement
LMS Capital plc ("the Company") has issued the following statement ahead of the Annual General Meeting of the Company which is being held today.
The Company's unaudited net asset value at 31 March 2015 was £138.5 million (31 December 2014: £135.1 million), equivalent to 95p per share, an increase of 2p from 93p as at 31 December 2014. The principal factors in this net increase were:
the strengthening of the US dollar against £ sterling in the first quarter of the year;improvement in the share price of the Company's principal quoted investment, Weatherford International;offsetting these two elements, in March the Company decided to take advantage of opportunities in the secondary market and agreement was reached to sell five of the Company's fund interests. The discount on this transaction (approximately 19%) reduced net asset value per share in the first quarter by approximately 1p; completion took place in April with net proceeds (after transaction costs) of approximately £9 million.
The Company had cash of £10.1 million at 31 March 2015 (31 December 2014: £9.2 million). Proceeds from realisations in the first quarter were £1.8 million, of which £1.4 million was distributions from funds; in the same period calls from our outstanding fund commitments were £0.1 million. Uncalled commitments to funds at 31 March 2015 were £7.0 million; completion of the funds secondary referred to above reduced uncalled commitments by approximately £2.3 million.
In March the acquisition of ChyronHego Corporation (one of our US quoted investments) by Vector Capital was completed - the cash proceeds to the Company of approximately £5.0 million are expected to be received later this month.
Since 31 March 2015:
Voreda Real Estate Fund completed the sale of its principal asset, and the Company received £5.0 million as its share of the proceeds of this transaction;the share price of Weatherford International has improved further and, in isolation, this improvement increases the Company's NAV per share by approximately 2p compared to 31 March 2015; however, the recent strengthening of £ sterling against the US dollar has resulted in unrealised currency losses of around 3p per share.
Assuming completion of the ChyronHego, Voreda and secondary transactions, cash at 31 March 2015 on a pro-forma basis, would be £29.2 million.
Commenting on the year to date Martin Knight, Chairman, said "The Company has continued to make progress with its realisation strategy during the current year to date; the Board expects to be in a position to consider a further return of capital to shareholders later in the year."
For further information please contact:
LMS Capital plc 020 7935 3555
Nick Friedlos, Executive Director
Tony Sweet, Chief Financial Officer
J.P. Morgan Cazenove 020 7742 4000
Michael Wentworth-Stanley
MHP Communications 020 3128 8100
Katie Hunt
About LMS Capital
LMS Capital is an investment company which, following a general meeting on 30 November 2011, is undertaking a realisation strategy with the aim of achieving a balance between an efficient return of cash to shareholders and optimising the value of the Company's investments. Its investment portfolio consists of small to medium sized companies across a range of sectors.
www.lmscapital.com
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