Category Archives: Investor

The weather is warming up, spring is in the air and some 15 million Britons have now been vaccinated against coronavirus. Yes, we are all still in lockdown but the exit route is becoming clearer by the day and businesses up and down the country are feeling more hopeful than they have in months.

In many cases, the potential of these firms is not reflected in their share prices. The UK stock market has been battered since the Brexit vote, and is now at a record discount to markets in the rest of the world, according to the MSCI World index, which tracks shares in 23 countries, including the US, Japan and most of Europe.

Alternative capital provider Duke Royalty updated the market on its trading and operations on Thursday, reporting cash revenue for the third quarter of £4.2m, representing a record quarter of cash revenue generation for Duke. The AIM-traded firm said that, within that £4.2m, £1.7m related to the receipt of the redemption premium generated from the exit of Welltel in December.

Guernsey-based Duke Royalty has exited its investment in Irish telecoms and IT services firm Welltel, generating a 27pc return.

Meanwhile, UK private equity firm Livingbridge said it has invested in Welltel, which has about 3,500 clients including Permanent TSB, Zurich, Specsavers and Northern Ireland Water. Livingbridge said it intends to support Welltel in further acquisition activity.

Duke Royalty (DUKE:23p), an Aim-traded company that makes its money by providing capital to companies in exchange for rights to a small percentage of their future revenues over a typical term of 25-40 years, has issued results for the 12 months to 31 March 2020. They reveal the short-term financial hit from the Covid-19 pandemic on the portfolio, and the opportunity, too.