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(Sharecast News) - Venture capital firm Molten Ventures said on Thursday that it had seen "continuing strong momentum" in the six months ended 30 September, with positive gross portfolio value and net asset value per share growth.
Molten Ventures said net asset value per share was expected to be 7.2% higher year-on-year at roughly 719p per share, with the group's share buyback programme contributing 13p to the uplift since 31 March, while its gross portfolio value was seen coming in at 1.42bn, up 5.5% year-on-year.
The FTSE 250-listed firm also stated there was "a strong level" of realisations of 62m in H1, following on from the 135m in cash proceeds realised in FY25, something it said underscored "the maturity and depth" of its portfolio, providing exposure to multiple growth themes across technology.
Exits delivering on average a 2.0x multiple on invested capital, while 33m was deployed into investments, with a further 11m from its managed EIS and VCT funds.
Molten, previously known as Draper Esprit, highlighted that it has returned 38m to shareholders via its share buyback programme commenced in July 2024, significantly exceeding the capital allocation policy guidance of a minimum of 10% of realisation proceeds. It also stated that with improving visibility on further realisations, it was now committing an additional 10m to buybacks to support the ongoing focus on narrowing the share price discount to NAV.
Chief executive Ben Wilkinson said: "We have had a strong first half of the financial year continuing the recent upward trends in portfolio value and NAV per share, supported by our focus on portfolio management and development, and our balanced capital allocation policy."
As of 1015 BST, Molten Ventures shares were up 6.65% at 439.20p.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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