Impressive net inflows, strong balance sheet liquidity

Mercia has performed strongly raising >£80m across a number of strategies, against prevailing headwinds. This organic growth demonstrates the ability to scale high RoE 3rd party AuM. We leave our forecasts unchanged at this stage given our assumptions around organic net inflows. The balance sheet remains strong with £37.8m unrestricted cash available (33% mkt cap), alongside liquidity in managed funds, to support investee companies. We reiterate our BUY recommendation and 66p 12m Target Price, s

FLASH: Strong realisation proving the model

Exit of Intechnica signals quality & further progress

MERC has announced the sale of Intechnica Holdings for a total enterprise value of £14.5m (25.5% holding from MERC), driving cash proceeds of £3.7m and equating to a 27% IRR and 1.7x multiple on its current holding value. Additionally, MERCs third-party funds collectively held a further 27.9%, for which the exit generated a 32% blended IRR (2.6x MOIC). The Groups exit of Intechnica marks another successful exit from its balance sheet portfolio and underpins once again the high quality inherent t

Resilient H1, accretive acquisition adds £415m FuM

We are encouraged by sustained growth during H1 which has driven adj. operating profit to £3.6m (51% yoy). NAV grew by 10% as underlying growth exceeded cautious valuations. Mercia has acquired private credit manager, FDC, for up to £9.5m cash. It is immediately earnings enhancing with strong strategic rationale, bolstering regional SME credentials. Adding £415m FuM, Mercia is within touching distance of “20:20” strategic goals ahead of time. We leave forecasts largely unchanged. VCT income is l

Good H1 results plus very accretive acquisition

Mercia Asset Management - Termination of coverage

Edison Investment Research is terminating coverage on Mercia Asset Management (MERC), Bloc Ventures (unlisted), YOC (YOC.DE), Genuit Group (GEN), AlzeCure Pharma (ALZCUR), abrdn Latin American Income Fund (ALAI), Magforce (MF6), OPG Power Ventures (OPG) and paragon (PGN). Please note you should no longer rely on any previous research or estimates for this company. All forecasts should now be considered redundant.

Further Capital Deployment within the Balance Sheet

Mercia Asset Management has announced two new investments within its balance sheet portfolio, notably (1) a £3.0m equity investment into Med Tech business Axis Spine, equating to a 11.7% equity stake (alongside Mercia’s managed funds holding of 33.6%) and; (2) a £2.3m convertible loan for Clean Tech business Nova Pangea. Both business have also seen investments from the Group’s managed funds, underpinning MERC’s de-risked sourcing strategy. We do not make any changes to our forecasts but see thi

FLASH: Two new investments

FLASH: In-line AGM statement

Mercia Asset Management - A safe haven for investors awaiting the upturn

As a regionally focused specialist asset manager, Mercia does not expect to experience the same highs and lows in valuations seen in more international growth markets. Mercia offers a defensible UK regional proposition, well aligned to the government’s levelling-up and SME agendas, with its venture portfolio supplemented by private equity and debt funds, investing across the digital media, software, life sciences and engineering sectors. With recurring fee income from FUM of £758m at 31 March 20

Mercia Asset Management - Excellent results despite the tough market

FY22 was the first year of Mercia’s Vision 20:20 strategy, and a year of real progress for the group. Mercia reported FY22 PBT of £27.4m, with AUM rising marginally to £959m, passing the £1bn mark with £45m of VCT and EIS funds raised post-year-end. Mercia exited Faradion, its second largest holding (4.2x ROI, IRR of 72%) and also completed a major up-round for nDreams, helping to drive net assets up 14% to £200.6m and NAV per share to 45.6p. Mercia trades at 0.65x FY22 NAV/share and at 0.56x ad

Strong FY22 results, NAV upgraded

FY22 – Strong Operating Result & On Track for Targets

Mercia Asset Management reported FY22 results, with a significant uplift in adj. operating profit to £8.4m, driven by strong management fee margins of >2% on stable FuM as well as strong finance income during the year. Group AuM has grown to >£1bn post period end, driven by fundraises across the Northern VCTs. The Group is well set to achieve its Mercia 20:20 Vision, with ~£27m (~46%) of its cumulative three-year PBT target delivered in year one. We increase our adj. EBITDA forecasts by 1-26% on

£20m Fundraise Underpins Growth Expectations

MERC has announced a raise of £20m across its first Knowledge-Intensive and annual Enterprise Investment Scheme funds. The raise underpins our AuM growth expectations for the year and highlight future growth potential across both existing and new strategies within the fund management business. The significant valuation dislocation within the Group persists, with MERC’s current market cap of £143m (o/w ~36% cash) implying a significant discount to the balance sheet portfolio and ascribing no valu

Specialist in the Regions, Combining Quality & Upside

Mercia Asset Management has evolved from a specialist investment company into a hybrid fund management business with an attractive balance sheet portfolio comprising direct investments in promising investee companies. Whilst the balance sheet provides exposure to attractive investment performance (recent >50% exit IRRs), the Group’s fund management business generates high quality management fee earnings from long-term alternative investment funds. We increase our TP to 64.5p, based on our revis

CMD - Broadening & deepening client relationships

FLASH: In-line trading update

'Airlines will be shocked when Covid leases run out and rates go up’

Critical Metals Plc - Molulu Operational Update - Target Price £1.14 ps

Event On the 15th May, Critical Metals plc released an operational update relating to their Molulu copper project in the DRC. Key Points 1. 6,500t of copper ore grading 3% copper has been mined 2. The mining focus is moving towards the high grade sulphide copper ore grading above 8.3% copper 3. No cobalt has been identified in the mining so far using hand-held XRF 4. Dewatering of the pits has begun with a trench decanting water from the small pit. Implications As soon as the road rehabilitation

Morning Note – 5 June 2023

Reassuring AGM statement

Cenkos: Duke Royalty Ltd -- Record revenues and more to come

Duke has released a Q1/24E trading update which points to a continuation of steady growth in recurring cash revenues and resilient underlying portfolio companies. Guidance for the quarter is for £6m of recurring cash revenues, and total cash revenues are expected to be c£7.5m once the buyout premium from Instor is accounted for. Duke's valuation looks very compelling at current levels with the FY24E dividend yield over 10% whilst being backed by FCF generation.

LIBERUM: NewRiver* - Higher occupancy driving earnings growth despite macro challenges

LIBERUM: Ramsdens Holdings* - Worth its weight in gold

Acquisition of Silver Royalty

Trident Royalties Plc (AIM: TRR) has, this morning, announced the acquisition of two royalties and a production-linked milestone payment over the La Preciosa Silver Project, owned by Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd (TSX: ASM, mkt cap US$87m) in the State of Durango, Mexico. The consideration consists of US$7m cash to Coeur Mining (NYSE: CDE, mkcap US$1.1bn) on closing with a further US$1m in either cash or shares at Trident's election upon receipt of the milestone payment. The acquisition is Tride

NewRiver REIT+ (NRR, House Stock at 86p) - Final results

NewRiver REIT+ (NRR, House Stock at 83p) - Final results preview

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 07 Jun 23

7th June 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment objectiv

Trading at trough valuation?

We review the investment case in an altered macro context. The stock currently trades at trough valuation of 13% discount to NAV. While some de-rating is justified, in our view the current price ignores positive aspects of the case and already prices in substantial mark-downs. Higher rates and increasing leverage justify a higher discount Some of the de-rating from the past 5Y average premium of 6% is justified given the magnitude of the increase in bond yields. HICL has only raised its discoun

Very strong CY22 - CY23 upgraded 10%