RiverFort Global Opportunities highlights ‘significant’ developments across portfolio
(RGO ) said “significant positive developments” have been made across its investment portfolio at a number of the company’s larger investments.
In a trading update, the investment company said its debt and equity linked portfolio, which currently comprises over 20 investment positions in companies such as Jubilee Metals, Deepverge plc, Challenger Exploration Limited and Troy Resources, is “performing well.”
During 2H21, traditional equity funding has been readily available for small-listed companies, however, from the start of 2022, these markets have become more difficult, RiverFort explained. As a result, the company said that it has seen increasing demand for its capital.
The Company said “good progress” continues to be made on the listing of its investee company, Smarttech247, by way of a proposed reverse takeover by Conduity Capital.
RGO invested €1.4 million in Smarttech247 by way of a convertible loan in May 2021.
Following on from a strong performance for the period to 31 July 2021, which represented a significant increase compared to 2020, Smarttech247 has continued to win new clients, including a contract with a fintech company worth in excess of €600,000 over three years.
The Company is also progressing the roll out of its stable of internally developed automated security products consisting of the ThreatHubthrea platform for vulnerability modelling and management, as well as NoPhish, an AI driven phishing response solution to threat emails.
In RiverFort’s view, Smarttech247 remains strong as the world is increasingly exposed to cybersecurity attacks which can wreak havoc at companies and institutions globally, it said.
RiverFort’s portfolio company, Pluto Digital, in which the company holds 21,666,667 shares, has grown its net assets by circa £30m on a net basis and as at 30 September 2021, its net assets amounted to £61m or 9.5p per share, following the group’s £31m raise in new funds.
Since then, Pluto has continued to progress its business, working alongside Maze Theory Limited (“Maze Theory”) a London-based digital entertainment studio, to release new games.
Pluto, which is investing £4m in Maze Theory, has also formed a new gaming blockchain and metaverse studio, called Emergent Games, as a joint venture business with Maze Theory.
Pluto has been actively developing its recently acquired YOP platform to help enable users to operate in and navigate the DeFi space which has been growing strongly and which, by December 2021, is believed to have had circa US$275 billion of total value locked, it noted.
On 8 April 2022, NFT Investments PLC (“NFT”) announced that it was no longer proceeding with its proposed acquisition of Pluto and therefore Pluto is currently pursuing other alternatives to access public markets, which is most likely to focus on Canadian markets.
In addition, Pires Investments, in which RiverFort holds a circa 19.54% shareholding, recently invested in a new Sure Valley Ventures fund (“SVV2"), alongside the British Business Bank who have committed £50m with other private investors, including Pires investing up to £35m.
The profit share arrangements within SVV2 are designed to encourage the involvement of private investors alongside the BBB, meaning that Pires expects to receive a significantly enhanced share of the total return generated by the fund compared to industry standard.
Getvisibility, a data visibility and control specialist and one of Pires’ investments that it holds both directly and via its holdings in SVV1 and Sure Ventures, has recently raised €10 million at a significantly higher valuation compared to when Pires Investment first invested.
Its direct stake in Getvisibility (including this recent investment) is now valued at c.€1,5m or over 4 times its total investment cost to date since it made its first investment two years ago.
In addition, Pires has a further interest in Getvisibility via its 13% interest in SVV1 and an indirect interest through its holding in Sure Ventures, which together are now valued at circa €1,33m. Pires’ interest in Getvisibility, in aggregate, is therefore now valued at circa €2,83m.
Commenting on the portfolio, Philip Haydn-Slater, Non-executive Chairman of RGO said: “We are very pleased with the progress of our investment portfolio with significant positive developments being achieved at a number of our larger investments. We are confident that we can achieve attractive returns from our portfolio in the short term for the benefit of our shareholders. We look forward to publishing our 2021 results in the coming weeks.”
RiverFort Global Opportunities told investors that it is currently progressing its audit for 2021 and that a fuller trading update will be provided with its full year results in the coming weeks.
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