Pires reports progress at portfolio firms

Pires Investments updated the market on company developments and further progress relating to companies within its investment portfolio on Friday, that it is invested in either directly, or indirectly through the Sure Valley Ventures funds.

The AIM-traded firm had announced on 21 July that the recommended offer for Pires by Tern, whilst being supported by the majority of shareholders voting both by number of shareholders and number of shares held, was not approved by the requisite number to effect a scheme of arrangement, and had therefore lapsed.

It said on Friday that it had a “clear and proven strategy” of investing in next-generation technology and realising returns from its investments.

“It has built an exciting portfolio of investments which is clearly attractive, as evidenced by the recent offer,” the board said in its statement.

“A number of the Pires portfolio companies continue to make good progress.”

Looking at Sure Ventures, Pires noted that it achieved over a 40% increase in its net asset value per share to 128.91p per share.

Pires has a 23.3% shareholding in Sure Ventures, and Sure Ventures has a 25.9% interest in Sure Valley Ventures, in which Pires has a 13% direct investment.

Sure Valley Ventures is a venture capital fund focussed on investing in the software technology sector with a specific focus on artificial intelligence, internet of things, cybersecurity, machine learning, immersive technologies and ‘big data’.

Consequently, Pires has a combined direct and indirect interest in Sure Valley Ventures of about 20%.

Software and intellectual property developer for holography VividQ, meanwhile, announced the appointment of François Auque as board chair.

Pires said Auque is a partner at InfraVia Capital, an independent European private equity firm, and also serves as a member of the board of wholesale electrical distributor Rexel.

“François joined the board and officially assumed the chairman role during a board meeting at VividQ's London headquarters earlier this month.

“His vast experience in dealing with large corporations, paired with his knowledge as an investor in deep tech start-ups will prove fundamental in supporting the company in its continued advancement of breakthrough technology in the holographic revolution.”

At Low6, which has developed a next-generation sports betting platform, has updated its recently-launched free-to-play gamification technology to the sports, sports betting and gaming industries as a “full turnkey business-to-business solution”.

It also announced a partnership with Inside The Pocket (ITP), which Pires described as “the sector's pre-eminent” free-to-play aggregation platform.

“Low6 will deliver a selection of its award-winning free-to-play products to a new network of operators via the fast-growing ITP platform, in an industry-first aggregation model for sports betting.

“Global gaming operators can now access the industry-leading first-party data opportunities that the white-label gamification provides.

“Low6's set of data collections tools help customers to collect strong first-party data to help them better understand their user base which is becoming even more central to business success.”

Finally, internet-of-things fleet safety technology specialist CameraMatics was recently shortlisted for the Fleet Safety Product Award as part of the UK Fleet Champions Awards 2022.

Its submission focused on SafeMatics, and its continuous evolution and development with new features to create the sharpest insights.

“We firmly believe that Pires has an exciting future with the clear potential to continue to deliver attractive investment returns and value for shareholders from our exciting investment portfolio,” said Pires director Nicholas Lee.

“"We are delighted to see the continued progression of our portfolio companies and extend a warm welcome to François Auque following his appointment as Chairperson of VividQ.

“We look forward to supporting him in his role as he guides the company through its growth phase.”

Lee said the company was also “pleased” with Low6's strategic partnership with Inside the Pocket on the back of its announcement in June that it was offering its gamification technology as a “full turnkey B2B solution” to the betting and gaming industry.

“It is great to see how quickly Low6 is seeing traction with its new offering.

“Finally, congratulations to CameraMatics for being shortlisted for the Fleet Safety Product Award as part of the UK Fleet Champions Awards 2022.

“We look forward to hearing the results in October and wish them the best of luck.”

At 1322 BST, shares in Pires Investments were down 0.61% at 4.08p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.