The eagle-eyed among you will note that this monthly newsletter is a week later than usual. Not due to idleness, but because we released our full year results last Wednesday and a newsletter the day before those would have been very dull…
Turning to our results (which are available here, along with a recording of the presentation if you missed it), we are pleased to be delivering for shareholders.
A quick summary of the results is below. We have enjoyed our discussions with institutional shareholders and research analysts so far, with good conversations about private equity as a whole, the balance between investing in our portfolio and doing share buybacks, and the potential role for ICG Enterprise Trust in a portfolio. We are looking forward to speaking to more of you in the coming days.
In terms of specifics, we reported that our portfolio companies are performing well, growing their earnings1 by 14.2% year-on-year and having prudent net leverage of 4.6x. The Portfolio Return on a Local Currency Basis was 5.9% and the NAV Per Share Total Return was 2.1% – the strengthening of sterling was a 2.7% negative during the year, but these things ebb and flow.
Over the last five years (and we have been consistent that private equity needs to be looked at over a number of years), our NAV per Share Total Return has delivered annualised growth of 14.6%.
So our investment performance is delivering on our ambition of investing in profitable, cash generative companies with defensive growth characteristics.
From a shareholder perspective, our Share Price Total Return has been 9.6% over the last twelve months and 11.2% annualised over the last five years. While we expect capital growth to be the main driver of returns for our shares, we are mindful of the benefits of returning cash to shareholders. On this topic, the two principle routes are our progressive dividend policy (for FY24 we announced total dividends of 33p per share, up 10% compared to FY23) and our ongoing share buyback programme. In total these returned £35m to shareholder during FY24 and are both continuing.
In addition, for FY25, we announced an opportunistic share buyback programme of up to £25m, which will enable us to buy a meaningful number of shares at a substantial discount if the opportunity to do so presents itself, and in doing so to take advantage of the current trading levels.
The market remains nuanced, we are focused on executing our investment strategy well and thinking holistically about maximising our long term shareholder return. With our best wishes, and thanks for your ongoing support.
Oliver & Colm
Past performance is not reliable indicator of future results.
Unsure of some of these terms? See our Glossary.
Note: all figures to 31 January 2024 unless stated
1EBITDA, based on Enlarged Perimeter covering 67.5% of the portfolio
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