Investment company Mercia Technologies (LON:MERC) has cracked on since listing on AIM at the end of last year.
The company, which floated on 18 December, declared a profit of £1.97mln for the period spanning from the time it listed until the end of March.
The profit was as a result of net fair value gains of £3.9mln on the company’s investment portfolio.
Net assets at the end of March stood at £80.8mln, while cash reserves stood at £53.6mln; the company raised £70mln from its stock market flotation.
During the reporting period the company invested £12mln, since when it has invested a further £3mln, adhering to its investment policy of developing a balanced portfolio of high growth technology companies based outside of the capital.
Speaking to Proactive Investors, chief executive Mark Payton said the company has a strong focus on the Midlands, the North and Scotland, and targets companies that have potentially disruptive technologies and modest capital needs.
“In the geographies we serve, there are many overlooked technology companies,” Payton said. Mercia’s role is to fund and develop those businesses through tax efficient third party funds under its management, and then scaling them up to the point where value can be realised, either through a private sale or a public offering.
Unlike some of its fellow technology incubators, it is not “tied to the university model”, though it does have partnerships with a number of educational establishments, including the University of Warwick, University of Birmingham, Aston University and the University of Leicester.
“Around half of our investments derive from university spin-outs,” Payton said.
Payton hailed the strength of the management team, which includes chief investment officer Matthew Mead, former IMI boss Martin Lamb as a non-executive director, and Dr Nicola Broughton, who is investment director on the university technology transfer side.
“We invest in sectors we understand,” Payton explained to Proactive.
Chief investment officer Matthew Mead required little invitation to enthuse about the company’s investment portfolio, but highlighted two companies operating in the gaming sector: Soccer Manager LIMIted and VirtTrade.
The former operates a multi-lingual football management game while the latter has updated the favourite playground pastime of trading cards and made the whole thing digital; VirtTrade has signed a deal with football stickers maker Panini, and product launches are planned later this year.
The shares were up 3.3% at 58.85p in afternoon trading – the shares floated at 50p – suggesting a fair few traders have added the shares to their collection.