b'Strategic report Governance Financial statementsPortfolio highlights Outlook during the lockdown and the Company has not Some of the investments within our FuM andAs Chief Executive, my priorities at this timeapplied for any Government funding schemes, our direct investment portfolios are startingare to ensure that Mercia is financially robustsave on behalf of our portfolio companies, as to create significant value. and operationally agile, with strong liquiditywe continue to behave as a responsible and and preserved capability. As the economicsupportive regional investor. I have confidence Notable direct investments initially supportedenvironment toughens, which I expect it to,in Mercias intrinsic strengths and these are by our FuM include: OXGENE (a promisingthis ensures that we are resilient to thereflected in our own core values. During the synthetic biology business that is growingdownturn and able to support our existingrecent period of remote working, Mercias 93 rapidly, with revenues up by c.240% in theportfolio, whilst being prepared to takeemployees have been remarkably resilient and past 12 months), nDreams (a fee-for-serviceadvantage of the opportunities that willsupportive of each other and of those around and proprietary content virtual realityundoubtedly lie ahead for those with strongus. I am proud of the work we are doing in the developer benefitting from the lockdownliquidity and available capital to deploy.regions as we seek to strengthen our portfolio, period with revenue growth of c.100%),as a trusted partner to regional business and Intechnica (providing bot analytics andWe have entered our new financial yearthus safeguard employment and economic website optimisation services and tools, debt-free and with unrestricted liquidity ofprospects. Internally, we reference the Group with strong revenue growth of c.50%) and c.290million to invest across our FuMas #OneMercia and I welcome the excellent The Native Antigen Company (a leadingportfolios, plus c.30million for directpeople who have recently joined us through provider of COVID-19 antigens for diagnostic,investing. We remain focused on transactionsthe acquisition of the Northern VCT contracts. vaccine, research and development purposes,of typically less than 10.0million, leveraging I would like to thank our entire valued team for with revenue growth of over 200%).the asset classes we have across the Group.their continued drive, commitment and We are uniquely positioned to combine equityprofessionalism. Notable venture portfolio companies withinwith debt finance, via our third-party FuM as our FuM include: Abingdon Health, whichwell as with our proprietary balance sheet amongst other programmes, is involved in thecapital, where appropriate.Dr Mark Paytonfight against COVID-19, and is a foundingChief Executive Officermember of the UKs rapid test consortiumOver the medium term, I believe the economic (UK-RTC") leading the assay developmentrecovery will be beneficial to the types of programme in partnership with the Universitybusinesses that we have traditionally of Oxford; Axis Spine, which has recentlysupported, particularly those in medtech and received US Food and Drug Administrationdiagnostics, digital entertainment and (FDA) approval for its lead producte-commerce support platforms. addressing the lucrative US spinal implantNotwithstanding the current reduction in sector, valued annually at c.7billion; andasset price linked fund management revenues, Sense Biodetection, which is developing a Mercia has begun the new financial year point-of-care instrument-free bacterial trading profitably, which we expect to and viral pathogen diagnostic tool for acontinue. The long-term potential of our direct variety of infectious agents, includinginvestment portfolio, with its relatively COVID-19. modest capital needs, remains positive and we expect the value of this maturing portfolio to accelerate beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.None of Mercias staff have been furloughed Mercia Asset Management PLC 19Annual Report and Accounts 2020'