Oakley Capital Investments (OCI) has released a trading update with its interim results for the six months to 30 June 2024. The company delivered a NAV total return of 3.8% over the period which was 5.6% before foreign exchange impact. The share price total return was 4.16%. The company noted that the underlying businesses in its portfolio continued to benefit from the long-term secular trends that Oakley invests behind, such as growing demand for quality education, businesses’ shift to the cloud and the consumer shift to online. Valuation gains were split across Oakley’s four core sectors, Technology, Consumer, Education and Business Services. The biggest contributors include IU Group, which continued to generate strong revenue growth, Dexters, which benefitted from sustained growth in its core London lettings business, and Cegid (previously Grupo Primavera), which continues to grow its SME customer base in France and Spain.
During the period, Oakley continued to invest for future growth across its core sectors. OCI made look-through investments totalling £184m including transport and logistics software business Alerce (announced in Q4 2023), automotive services platform Steer Automotive Group, medical software provider Horizons Optical, and ProductLife Group, which provides regulatory and compliance services to the life sciences industry. During the period, OCI also announced an investment in broadband open access platform vitroconnect. The transaction is expected to complete in July 2024 and OCI’s look-through investment is expected to be up to £20m. OCI is also expected to make a look-through investment of up to £39m in cybersecurity firm I-TRACING after Oakley Capital was granted exclusivity with a view to acquiring a co-controlling stake in the business.
OCI’s look-through share of proceeds during the period were £4m. Oakley’s sale of its stake in idealista, southern Europe’s leading real estate classifieds platform, was agreed during the period and is expected to complete in H2 2024. OCI’s look-through share of proceeds from this transaction is anticipated to be c.£70m.
OCI : Oakley Capital Investments continues to build momentum