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.
Ben Wilkinson
CFO
Martin Davis
CEO
Forecast net debt (£m)
N/A
Forecast gearing ratio (%)
N/A
% | 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 |
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 |