Molten Ventures (AIM: GROW)

Currency in GBP

Last close As at 27/03/2023

GBP2.81

−18.80 (−6.27%)

Market capitalisation

GBP476m

Molten Ventures is a London-based venture capital (VC) firm that invests in the European technology sector. It has a portfolio of c 70 investee companies and includes a range of funds (seed, EIS and VCT) within the group, as well as its flagship balance sheet VC fund.

After a strong run in 2021, the technology sector faced a challenging macroeconomic environment triggering market rotation towards value and out of growth (affecting valuations of listed high-growth tech companies). Moreover, VC deal activity has slowed, with Q422 European VC deal values down 54% y-o-y and European exit values down c 80% y-o-y (though remaining strong in the software sector overall in 2022), according to PitchBook. At the same time, the market downturn is likely to create opportunities for long-term investors. More recently, public equities (including tech stocks) have rallied in early 2023.

molten03

Sector

Financials

Equity Analyst

Milosz Papst

Milosz Papst

Director, Financials

Key Management

  • Ben Wilkinson

    CFO

  • Martin Davis

    CEO

Balance Sheet

Forecast net debt (£m)

N/A

Forecast gearing ratio (%)

N/A

Share Price Performance

Price Performance
% 1M 3M 12M
Actual (25.0) (17.7) (60.3)
Relative (20.2) (17.5) (59.4)
52 week high/low 801.0p/247.0p

Financials

Molten Ventures recently announced that its H123 NAV per share fell to 837p, c 11% below the FY22 NAV/share of 937p. This corresponds to a 17% fall in gross portfolio value on a constant currency basis, a net fall of 12% after reflecting fx gains. The falls in valuation were cushioned by the vast majority (c 90%) of Molten’s direct investments being structured as preference shares. Management expects average core portfolio revenues to grow by more than 60% and 70% in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Over 75% of the core portfolio has more than 18 months’ cash runway based on current projections. Molten invested £112m in H123, but management expects this to slow in H223, with FY23 targeted at c £150m.

Y/E Mar Revenue (£m) EBITDA (£m) PBT (£m) EPS (fd) (p) P/E (x) P/CF (x)
2021A 288.8 N/A 268.9 207.3 1.4 1.3
2022A 351.2 N/A 331.1 218.0 1.3 1.3
2023E N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
2024E N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Financials

IFRS 16

Financials

DACH Industrial & Logistic Property

Financials

Time value of money

Financials

Cash flow

Financials

Enterprise versus equity valuation

Financials

Deutsche Börse’s Scale

Financials

Price to earnings ratio