Mercia upbeat on strong results from Northern Venture Trust
Regionally-focussed specialist asset manager Mercia said on Thursday that Northern Venture Trust, whose investment adviser is its wholly-owned subsidiary Mercia Fund Management (MFM), had released its audited results for the year ended 30 September.
The AIM-traded firm said that as a result of a “strong increase” in NVT's net asset value per share, arising in large part from a number of successful exits and the initial public offering of musicMagpie, MFM was entitled to receive a gross performance fee of £2.5m.
That revenue would be included in Mercia's interim consolidated financial statements for the six months ended 30 September.
Net of directly attributable staff costs and the receipt of a small additional legacy fund performance fee, the company said the contribution to its interim results was £1.6m.
Mercia said that, while still subject to review by its auditors and board approval, the group's consolidated profit and total comprehensive income for the six months ended 30 September was expected to exceed £10m, which was “materially ahead” of the prior period ended 30 September.
Adjusted operating profit for the year ending 31 March, excluding the above net performance fee, was now expected to be “materially ahead” of market forecasts.
Unrestricted cash and short-term liquidity investments as at 30 September totalled £52.1m, and the group remained debt free.
“It is pleasing to see the strong year-on-year increase in Northern Venture Trust's net asset value per share,” said chief executive officer Mark Payton.
“Overall, we have made a positive start to our three-year 'Mercia 20:20' strategic plan.
“We look forward to releasing our interim results on 7 December, and presenting those results to all stakeholders in Mercia.”
At 1605 GMT, shares in Mercia Asset Management were up 4.83% at 38p.