Molten Ventures PLC (LSE:GROW) said its gross portfolio value jumped, but warned investment will slow in the coming year as the "opportunities for follow-ons are less".
The venture capital (VC) firm said its gross portfolio value was £1.53bn in the year to March 31, 2022, compared to £984mln a year ago.
During the year, the company made investments of £311.2mln, consisting of £112mln in new companies and £130.3mln in follow-on investments into its portfolio, while cash proceeds from realisations totalled £126.3mln.
As a result of its higher levels of deployment, the company has been able to invest in new companies, lead more rounds, and take larger stakes in companies.
Pre-tax profit for the financial year 2022 rose to £325mln, from £267.4mln a year ago, and net asset value per share also increased to 937p compared to 743p.
The London-based company said there is "a great deal of uncertainty" with the current geopolitical environment. citing continued Covid-19 restrictions in China and future variants as key issues to impact supply chains and drag investor confidence for the remainder of the financial year,
As a result of a slowdown in investment, it expects to deploy about £150mln per year.
"The current level of volatility makes it challenging to give a meaningful forecast of portfolio fair value growth for the current financial year, but we remain confident in the strength of our portfolio and of our model which has proven its ability to meet or exceed our targets of 10% of NAV in cash realisations and an annual fair value growth of 20% across the cycle," said Martin Davis, chief executive.
The VC manages about £400mln for investors via its EIS and VCT strategies, which are expected to grow significantly in the next fiscal year.
The company noted it achieved gross fair value growth of more than 20% above its target and that despite recent volatility in the world markets, which was in part caused by the events in Ukraine, "VC remains resilient, and the European technology market continues to be an area of growth."