Molten Ventures plc (LON:GROW, Euronext Dublin: GRW), a leading venture capital firm investing in and developing high-growth digital technology businesses, is today hosting an Investor Day for institutional investors, analysts and other registered professionals.
The event gathers a number of keynote speakers from across Molten’s leadership team, investment team and its portfolio companies who are at the forefront of leading technology sub-sectors including enterprise, fintech, climate, health, consumer, hardware and deeptech.
Ben Wilkinson will also outline his strategic priorities following his appointment as CEO in October 2024. Following a comprehensive assessment of the business, these comprise:
· Refocus on Molten’s core business of Series A and B investments. This is the investment stage in the European venture market where the Molten investment team’s reputation and track record are strongest and where there is the most compelling need for capital.
· Create further scale and increased efficiencies by developing structures to allow institutional capital to co-invest alongside Molten at Series B. This will build on the strong public company platform and experience of managing co-invested pools of capital e.g. in the managed EIS/VCT funds. Additional capital will support high quality dealflow and consistent deployment in later stage deals.
· Maintain selective Fund of Funds programme. Molten’s Fund of Funds programme remains an integral part of the platform, providing insights and opportunity across the breadth of the European ecosystem. Going forward the Company will concentrate its capital with new commitments to a narrower cohort of managers.
· Preserve a strong balance sheet, with a mature portfolio and pipeline of realisations providing liquidity to use in line with Molten’s capital allocation policy. A strong financial position gives the Company the ability to quickly capture opportunities and be active in the marketplace. In light of the expected realisation profile of the portfolio, Molten will not be seeking to raise capital through equity fundraises for the foreseeable future.
· Focus on narrowing the share price discount to NAV, without compromising Molten’s ability to invest. The Board recognises the continued wide discount to asset value at which the Company is trading and is therefore committing an additional £15m to the ongoing £5m share repurchase programme. This goes significantly beyond the 10% of realisation proceeds outlined in our Capital Allocation Policy, doubling the £15m already committed. The Board expects, if the discount to net asset value persists, to commit further capital to the investment opportunity that buying back shares at such wide discounts represents.
A video of Ben’s presentation will be available on the Company’s website tomorrow. No material additional disclosures will be made during the event.
Ben Wilkinson, CEO of Molten Ventures, commented:
“Molten Ventures has a track record of over £1bn invested in European venture capital, resulting in a mature portfolio with diverse value drivers across multiple tech sub sectors. We have realised over £150m this financial year bringing our total realisations to over £640m. We are focused on portfolio development and facilitating a pipeline of realisations, which puts us in a fantastic position to continue investing through cycles to create strong vintage performance.
“We are well positioned to take advantage of the current need for more investment at Series B in Europe and my strategic priorities aim to deploy our experienced investment team and strong financial position to the best effect possible, while always exercising discipline in capital allocation.
“The Board’s commitment today to expand the share repurchase programme is in further recognition of the discount to asset value at which we are trading and takes advantage of the significant returns we have generated from realisations this year. Our strong capital position allows us to do this while retaining firepower to invest at a promising time for value creation.”
