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Simon Thompson reveals how his 2021 Bargain Share Portfolio trounced the Aim market, and updates his views on all 10 companies.

Shares in royalty finance provider Duke Royalty (DUKE:AIM), added 4.5% to 41p following the release of its third quarter trading update which showed a record quarter for deployment and ‘normalised’ cash revenue.

Finance provider Duke Royalty said on Thursday that it had continued to convert its “robust pipeline” in the third quarter, securing two additional partners and completing three follow-on investments into existing partners.

Duke Royalty has realised half year results and posted a very respectable 78% increase in cash revenue for the period.

Revenue rose to £7.8 million in the six months to 30th September 2021, up from £4.4 million in the same period last year.

Shares in alternative capital provider Duke Royalty (DUKE:AIM) gained 4.5% to 46p after the company reported strong first half growth in revenues and profit and said it was confident of exceeding market expectations for the full year to 31 March 2022.

A royalty finance company is exiting mature investments at healthy profits and is making good progress recycling proceeds from a placing into new investee companies.

A fund manager that holds a concentrated portfolio of 13 small and micro-cap value investee companies is delivering eye-catching returns this year and looks well set to continue doing so.

Is it an end to that old journalistic standby of “that rarity on AIM – a dividend-paying stock”? Probably not but around one in five AIM companies are paying dividends

ALTERNATIVE capital provider Duke Royalty has exited its investment in Irish niche insurer BHPC, which trades as BHP Insurance.

Efficiency Market Theory (EMT) dictates that all publicly available information should be priced into a company’s share price. However, EMT has flaws in my small-cap and micro-cap hunting ground, otherwise I would not be able to regularly flag up market mispricing investment opportunities.

Alternative capital provider Duke Royalty said on Monday that its first-quarter cash revenue performance had slightly bested internal forecasts. Duke stated cash revenue, being cash distributions from its royalty partners and cash gains from sales of equity assets, totalled £2.9m for the three months ended 30 June, marginally above management’s expectations.

Our small-cap stock picking expert highlights two under researched anomalously priced investment companies on his watch list.

We are delighted to be included in Lord Lee’s latest article in the Financial Times highlighting Duke as one of his newest investments:

‘Current financial pressures on business are providing an increased flow of opportunities for Duke, enabling the group to selectively make perhaps four new investments a year. I expect both companies to grow over the medium term.’

Earnings momentum is the key driver of share prices, so it pays to know when a company is likely to beat expectations. Simon Thompson highlights two small-cap companies where both the earnings and investment risks are pointing to the upside.

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.

The idea behind our annual Bargain Shares Portfolio is simple. It’s to invest in companies where the true worth of the assets is not reflected in the share price, usually for some temporary reason, but where we can reasonably expect that it will be in due course.

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.

UK stocks bounced on Tuesday after Monday’s sharp losses in reaction to stricter lockdown measures amid rising virus cases related to a new, potential more easily transmitted strain.

Shares in alternative financing business Duke Royalty (DUKE:AIM) gained 2.6% to 30.78p after reporting a resilient first-half and re-instating a third-quarter dividend of 0.5p per share.

Royalty finance is a £50 billion industry in North America but it remains relatively new in the UK. This possibly gives Duke an advantage as the only UK-quoted royalty company.

A housebuilder to play the seasonal sector rally, a crude palm oil producer benefiting from the sharp rally in CPO prices, a tech company that has just sold off a major holding for a massive premium and more.

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.

There aren’t many people who are relishing the challenges presented by the global coronavirus pandemic; however, Neil Johnson, chief executive of Duke Royalty Ltd, has a point to prove.

Duke Royalty plans paper dividend – Duke Royalty has been reviewing the situation with its business in light of COVID-19. It says “Through its diversified portfolio, Duke naturally has exposure to a range of sectors, some of which are impacted to a greater extent by Covid than others, such as hospitality & leisure. In certain situations where Covid-19 has had the greatest impact, Duke has elected to either accrue, capitalise or equitise its monthly cash payments in the short term with the intention of alleviating the negative cashflow impacts for its royalty partners during this time of unprecedented financial stress.”

Duke Royalty, 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, is being priced a hefty 38 per cent below proforma book value of £90.3m (37.7p a share) after factoring in last October’s £17.45m equity raise, at 44p a share. It’s a value opportunity worth exploiting.

Duke’s high yield worth locking in.

Duke Royalty Ltd said Monday it completed three follow-on investments in December.

There is also quarterly-dividend paying Duke Royalty which lends money to private companies on a long-term basis, typically between 25 and 40 years, in exchange for part of their revenue.

In line with its strategy of paying a high and stable dividend, and reflecting the firm’s rapid growth this year, the quarterly payout increased to 0.75p per share for September. This keeps Duke in the top 5% of dividend yielding companies listed on AIM.

Duke Royalty Ltd said Friday its revenue more than doubled during the first half, boosted by investments in royal partners.

The royalty financing company said for six months ended September 30, its revenue jumped to GBP5.9 million from GBP2.7 million in comparable period a year ago.

Duke Royalty said profit more than trebled in the first half of the year on a surge in revenue as investments in royal partners boosted growth.

For the six months ended 30 September 2019, pre-tax profit rose to £3.7m from £1.1m on-year as total income surged 119% to £5.9m and operational cash flow jumped 195% to £3.9m.

Duke Royalty (DUKE) provides capital to profitable businesses in exchange for rights to a small percentage of their future revenues. This model has worked very well in Canada, but people in the UK are less familiar with it.

Duke Royalty, 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 raised £17.4m at 44p a share through a placing, retail offer and small open offer. The new equity equates to 16 per cent of Duke’s enlarged share capital.

Alternative capital provider Duke Royalty announced on Monday that, further to the completion of its recent fundraising, it has paid down the outstanding balance of its new revolving credit facility from £11.65m to nil.

Duke Royalty Ltd on Monday said it has paid down the entire outstanding balance of a revolving credit facility following a fundraising. The royalty financing firm said it has paid the remaining GBP11.7 million, which it added was a key commitment of its recent fundraising strategy.

Good news from Duke, as it (temporarily) pays down its £12 million credit facility

Duke Royalty, which provides royalty finance to companies in the UK and Europe, told Yahoo Finance UK it has secured £16.1m ($19.52m) from new and existing institutional investors and is aiming to raise another £3.9m when it opens a retail offer later today.

Duke has just announced a fund-raising of up to £20m, of which £16.1m has already been placed in an institutional offering at 44p per share. This will allow it to invest another £45m in the next 12 months. We estimate a sustainable ROE of 14% for Duke and we see the current fair value range at 50–58p per share.

Duke Royalty, 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 reported a robust set of annual results and a new credit line that has prompted analysts to materially upgrade their forecasts.

Duke Royalty said annual profit more than doubled following a surge in total income as new royalty investments bolstered growth.

Duke Royalty Ltd on Monday said it hiked its dividend and swung to annual profit for the first time following a sharp increase in total income.

Duke Royalty, 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 reported a robust trading update ahead of the release of its annual results on Monday 9 September.

Duke Royalty Ltd said Wednesday it expects its annual results to show a “significant uplift” from the year before.
The royalty-focused finance investment firm said that revenue and cashflow for the year to the end of March were in line with market expectations, and has seen its positive momentum continue into the first quarter of its current financial year.

In a wide ranging podcast, Johnson discusses investment opportunities and short-term challenges in equal measure. He also touches on portfolio optimisation and the sort of synergies the company hopes to achieve via the Capital Step acquisition and what potential and existing investors can expect over the medium-term.

These are notes taken during a Q&A session with Neil Johnson, CEO of Duke Royalty (DUKE), which was attended by Graham Neary and a Cube.Investments member.

Duke Royalty, a 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 made two smart announcements in the past few weeks.

Duke Royalty may operate in an area of finance that is under the radar, but it’s a company well worth getting acquainted with given that the directors have made smart progress investing the £79m proceeds from three equity raises (placings at 40p to 44p) to create a portfolio of sound royalty partners since listing its shares on London’s junior market in March 2017.

Downing bought a position in Duke Royalty (DUKE) in 2018. James elicits the key investment attractions of DUKE, and Neil gives a great overview of DUKE, royalty finance, the market place, risk management and much more, to answer all the questions investors may have.

For this podcast, Graham was pleased to be joined by Neil Johnson, Executive Director and CEO of Duke Royalty (DUKE) (latest share price 41.4p, market cap £83 million).

The European royalty financing market is starting to gain traction and this firm has spotted the opportunity to replicate a business model that has a proven track record in North America (where the market for royalty financing is worth £50bn).

Despite all the uncertainty created by Brexit the latest reading from the Quoted Companies Alliance/YouGov Small & Mid-Cap Sentiment index suggests most small and medium-sized companies in the UK are optimistic about 2019.

AIM has achieved three consecutive years of strong growth, but it is set to decline in 2018. The FTSE AIM All Share index slumped by 11% during October, which compares with a 5% decline for the FTSE 100 index.

Investing in companies with a view to receiving royalty payments, is a new format to Europe. It’s a model that has been established in Canada, and AIM-listed Duke Royalty is now rolling out the model across Europe.

Alternative capital solutions provider Duke Royalty said Tuesday it had increased its interim dividend by 17%, or 0.1p per share, quarter-on-quarter to 0.7p per share, supported by a rising royalty portfolio.

MoneyWeek’s comprehensive guide to the best of this week’s share tips from the rest of the UK financial pages.

Bank lending to small and medium-sized businesses has virtually halved since the financial crisis. New rules make it much tougher for banks to lend to most firms and many no longer even want to borrow from traditional lenders.

A Birmingham-based coatings manufacturer which was established in the 1940s has entered into a £9m royalty financing agreement with an investment company.

It’s a given that small companies still find it hard to borrow money at reasonable rates from the banks. Into this funding gap have sprung alternative forms of borrowing: crowdfunding, invoice factoring, angel investors.