SPK : Spark Ventures final results show big cash inflow
Spark Ventures has published its results for the year that ended 31 March 2014. £33m of cash came in during the year from sales of investments including Kobalt, notonthehighstreet and IMIMobile. Shareholders have received distributions of 6.5p. The net asset value fell 18% to 10.65p. Most of the fall is down to a reduction in the value of Mind Candy (which they wrote down from £3.1 to £0.8m as sales disappointed in 2013) and a £2.6m loss over the March 2013 valuation for OpenX which they sold to other venture capitalists.
Only four significant unquoted investments are yet to be sold. They got put of their lease at 33 Glasshouse Street. One negative in the accounts is a £500,000 provision against a possible performance bonus due to a former director (under an incentive scheme dating back to 2003).
The statement contains a breakdown of the valuations of companies in the portfolio as at September 2009 compared to their value today or the price they fetched when Spark sold them – investments worth £14m in 2009 turned into £50m of value for Spark shareholders (though of course the 2009 valuations do not represent the “in price” for those investments).
As the portfolio shrinks, the Board is thinking about trying to launch a new vehicle – they have not settled on the legal structure (VCT, LP or investment company) for this venture.