Mercia Asset Management PLC is pleased to announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2025.
Mark Payton, Chief Executive Officer of Mercia, commented: “We are pleased to announce an excellent set of full year results. Our increasing scale is driving profitable growth and an increasing EBITDA margin. Our ambition now is to go much further and faster.”
| 31 March
2025 |
31 March
2024 |
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| Statutory results | |||
| Revenue | £35.2m | £30.4m | |
| Realised fair value (loss)/gain on sale of direct investments | £(0.3)m | £4.5m | |
| Unrealised fair value movement in direct investments | £0.3m | £(17.3)m | |
| Profit/(loss) before taxation | £5.4m | £(8.2)m | |
| Basic earnings/(loss) per share | 0.80p | (1.71)p | |
| Interim dividend paid per share | 0.37p | 0.35p | |
| Proposed final dividend per share 1 | 0.58p | 0.55p | |
| Cash and cash equivalents | £40.1m | £46.9m | |
| Net assets | £187.9m | £189.2m | |
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Alternative performance measures |
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| AuM 2 | £1,987.8m | £1,818.8m | |
| EBITDA 3 | £7.6m | £5.5m | |
| EBITDA margin 4 | 22.1% | 18.2% | |
| Adjusted operating profit 5 | £10.2m | £9.7m | |
| Net assets per share | 43.6p | 43.4p | |
1 The proposed final dividend is subject to shareholder approval at the Company’s Annual General Meeting on 25 September 2025 and if approved, will be paid on 31 October 2025 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 3 October 2025.
2 AuM is defined as the value of funds under management from which the Group earns revenues, plus the Group’s consolidated net assets.
3 EBITDA is defined as operating profit/(loss) excluding performance fees net of attributable costs, depreciation, realised fair value (loss)/gain on the sale of direct investments, unrealised fair value movement in direct investments, share-based payments charge, amortisation of intangible assets and movement in fair value of deferred consideration.
4 EBITDA margin is defined as EBITDA divided by revenue (excluding performance fees).
5 Adjusted operating profit is defined as EBITDA plus net finance income (excluding performance fees net of attributable costs).
Managed fund movements
- Third-party funds under management (“FuM”) organically increased by c.10% in the year to c.£1,800million (2024: c.£1,630million), with no redemptions
- Venture FuM of c.£928million (2024: c.£913million)£29.2million of shares allotted by the three Northern Venture Capital Trusts (“VCTs”) in April 2024, in addition to £2.4million of shareholder dividend reinvestment inflows
- Four Enterprise Investment Scheme (“EIS”) funds closed raising a total of £23.0million
- £10.0million additional equity allocation under the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund I
- Award of a new £35.0million fund in the North East of England
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- Debt FuM of c.£850million (2024: c.£687million)
- Additional £90.0million allocated to the West Midlands Combined Authority Commercial and Residential Investment Funds, managed by Frontier Development Capital (“FDC”)
- First close of the £81.5million Mercia Evolution Fund launched by FDC
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- Private equity FuM of c.£22million (2024: c.£30million)
- £10.5million distributed back to fund investors following two fund realisations
Direct investment portfolio movements
- Direct investment portfolio fair value of £126.0million (2024: £116.9million)
- £9.7million net invested into eight portfolio companies (2024: £19.6million net invested into 11 portfolio companies)
- £0.3million net fair value increase in the portfolio during the year (2024: £17.3million net fair value decrease in the portfolio)
Post year end developments
- The Northern VCTs allotted shares totalling c.£36million on 4 April 2025, concluding their fundraise which became fully subscribed in March 2025
- Mercia’s most recent Knowledge-intensive EIS fundraise closed on 4 April 2025, raising a total of c.£8million
- Significant funding rounds completed for Warwick Acoustics and Axis Spine Technologies, reflecting continued commercial progress and the potential for their respective technologies
- An initial £0.4million was received in June 2025 from the ongoing liquidation of Impression Technologies