Soccer Manager (Mercia Asset Management) – executive interview

Mercia Asset Management is an AIM-listed, specialist asset manager with a market cap of approximately £160m, focused on sourcing growth businesses from the UK regions. The group generates recurring fee income from its third-party funds in excess of central costs, which means it is structurally profitable and was able to declare a maiden dividend in FY21 (year to March 2021).

The latest FY21 NAV per share climbed 24% to 40p, but Mercia has continued to perform well, deploying capital into new investments, with 20% annual AUM growth targeted. We expect to see evidence of further NAV growth when the H122 results are published on 7 December 2021.

In a short series of two interviews, we take a glimpse into the group’s direct investment portfolio, looking at two of Mercia’s principal games investments, nDreams and Soccer Manager.

In this interview, I am joined by Andy Gore, CEO of Soccer Manager, a top 10 holding in Mercia’s direct investment portfolio. Soccer Manager develops and publishes mobile football management games, operating in a popular and crowded space. Andy introduces the business and explains how it is differentiated from competitors including Football Manager and FIFA, why Soccer Manager is succeeding in the mobile space and how lockdown boosted demand for the game. He describes how Mercia has supported the company and use of the latest growth funding, before setting out his ambitions for Soccer Manager and its future growth.