Oakley Capital starts paying dividends

In its latest results statement, the chairman of Oakley Capital says the fund performed well in 2016. There has been a 30% increase (on a like-for-like basis) in the fair values of the portfolio companies held by the Oakley Funds, reflecting strong underlying growth. This, together with the favourable impact of weaker Sterling, has resulted in an increase in the NAV per share year-on-year of 16%.

In December 2016, the Board took a decision to introduce a dividend of 4.5 pence per share, for the year ended 31 December 2016, given the consistent income generated from co-investments and increased cash returns from exits. The dividend payment equated to 2.0% of the NAV at 31 December 2016..

In June 2016, Time Out Group plc (“Time Out”) successfully listed on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange, generating net proceeds of GBP59 million after fees and debt repayment. Following the listing, the Company has a direct interest in Time Out representing 24.0% of Time Out’s issued share capital, and an indirect interest through Fund I of a further 22.7%.

In October 2016, Parship Elite Group was partially sold to ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (“ProSieben”). The Company received proceeds of EUR43.3 million (GBP38.9 million) from this transaction. The Fund generated a gross money multiple and IRR of 3.6x and 145% respectively, from the realisation and from its retained interest.

In December 2016, Fund II reached an agreement with Cinven (the majority shareholder of Host Europe Group (“HEG”)) to sell HEG to GoDaddy Inc. HEG was Oakley’s third investment in the hosting space and demonstrates its expertise in the TMT sector, which it continues to build upon.

Fund III announced its first investment in December 2016, acquiring a number of European real estate consumer websites including Casa.it in Italy and atHome.lu in Luxembourg. This will build on Oakley’s experience in the digital consumer sector through its previous investments in Facile, Parship Elite Group and Verivox. This transaction completed in January 2017.

The Company has a capital commitment of EUR188.4 million (GBP160.1 million) to Fund I of which 95.0% had been called at 31 December 2016, making Fund I fully invested with just two companies remaining in the portfolio.

The Company has a capital commitment of EUR200.0 million (GBP170.6 million) to Fund II of which 76.5% had been called at 31 December 2016. Including debt facilities provided to the Fund, 93% of commitments have been deployed, making Fund II also essentially fully invested.

The Company has made a capital commitment of   EUR325.0 million (GBP277.3 million) to Fund III, of which 3% had been called at 31 December 2016.

The NAV per share as at 31 December 2016 was GBP2.31, (2015: GBP2.00) an increase of 16% (18% before the maiden dividend is taken into account). Of the 31p uplift in NAV per share, 18p is attributable to the significant weakening of Sterling over 2016, and 13p is due to the strong performance of the portfolio which was partly offset by the dividend paid.

The Company’s NAV increased in the year by GBP56.2 million to GBP438.4 million (2015: GBP382.2 million) which is due to the movements in the underlying Funds and co-investments.

Fund I represented GBP64.9 million (2015: GBP56.3 million) of the Company’s NAV at year end, an increase of GBP8.6 million in the year. The movement in Fund I was driven by the uplift in the valuation of Educas, which was partly offset by the decrease in Time Out’s share price following Brexit, and the disposal of the remaining investment in Broadstone.

Fund II represented GBP144.0 million (2015: GBP102.0 million) of the Company’s NAV, an increase of GBP42.0 million in the year. The main driver of this increase was an uplift in fair value arising from improved trading performances in a number of the underlying portfolio companies, particularly Educas and Facile. Fund II also made follow-on investments in Educas, Daisy, North Sails and Verivox in 2016, totalling EUR81.3 million (GBP69.3 million).

Co-investments represented GBP129.6 million of the Company’s NAV at year end, comprising quoted and unquoted equity and debt securities. This included GBP6.8 million of follow-on investment in Time Out, and debt financing provided to North Sails Apparel BV (“North Sails Apparel”) of GBP10.0 million.

OCL : Oakley Capital starts paying dividends