Category Archives: Business

Alternative capital provider Duke Royalty said on Wednesday that the “general upturn” in trading seen across its partners in the first quarter had continued into the second.

The global pandemic has dealt yet another blow to business in general, and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in particular.

Even at the beginning of the year, the level of indebtedness across this community was untenable. To make matters worse, recent research has highlighted that a quarter of a million companies are at risk of collapsing under £35bn ($44bn) of unsustainable debt taken on during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is foreboding, to say the least.

Duke Royalty shares jumped by a fifth after the financing company reported a strong pickup in trading for the companies it backs.

Welltel, a Dublin-based telephony, network and connectivity solutions provider, has received an additional £2.3m (€2.5m) in backing from AIM-listed finance firm Duke Royalty.

The money will be used by Welltel to help bankroll the acquisition of Irish firm Globalnet Solutions, which trades as Novi.

Duke Royalty Ltd said Wednesday it still expects its cashflow and loan portfolio for its financial year to be in line with expectations, despite the market turbulence affecting all public companies.

Duke Royalty Ltd on Monday said it has invested an additional GBP1 million into existing royalty partner Lynx Equity UK Ltd. The investment will be used to fund Lynx’s acquisition of Danish door manufacturer Arkas AS, agreed in February.

“We are a serious investor in Ireland; we see it as a very attractive opportunity and place for us to do business. We’ve now got a very strong network of both portfolio companies and relationships in the corporate finance community.”

Duke Royalty announced a follow-on investment of around £7.7m into its existing royalty partner, Bakhchysarai Ireland (BIL), on Thursday. It said the new capital would support BIL’s second acquisition, PharmEng, trading as PE Global, which it described as “one of the leading” healthcare and life sciences recruiters in Ireland, with a growing presence in the UK.

Alternative capital provider Duke Royalty announced a follow-on investment of around £7.7m into its existing royalty partner, Bakhchysarai Ireland (BIL), on Thursday.