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Research: Investment Companies
Round Hill Music Royalty Fund (RHMRF) has recently celebrated its one-year anniversary of its launch. It has been very active throughout the year, raising additional funds of $132.6m and acquiring five catalogues. Since launch the company’s NAV returned c 11.1% on a total return (TR) basis (to end-October 2021), within the targeted annualised NAV TR of 9–11%. An increase in economic NAV to $1.07/share (from $0.98 per share at launch; not an IFRS measure) and two dividends contributed to the NAV TR. RHMRF benefits from the industry expertise of its fund manager Round Hill, a fully integrated business, in owning and exploiting music copyright assets. We believe RHMRF’s assets will continue to expand, providing reliable and growing revenues given the momentum in streaming and the potential of new distribution channels.
Round Hill Music Royalty Fund |
The one-year anniversary |
Investment trusts |
23 November 2021 |
Analysts
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Round Hill Music Royalty Fund (RHMRF) has recently celebrated its one-year anniversary of its launch. It has been very active throughout the year, raising additional funds of $132.6m and acquiring five catalogues. Since launch the company’s NAV returned c 11.1% on a total return (TR) basis (to end-October 2021), within the targeted annualised NAV TR of 9–11%. An increase in economic NAV to $1.07/share (from $0.98 per share at launch; not an IFRS measure) and two dividends contributed to the NAV TR. RHMRF benefits from the industry expertise of its fund manager Round Hill, a fully integrated business, in owning and exploiting music copyright assets. We believe RHMRF’s assets will continue to expand, providing reliable and growing revenues given the momentum in streaming and the potential of new distribution channels.
RHMRF’s total return since launch (%) |
Source: Refinitiv, RHMRF |
Why invest in RHMRF now
The value inherent in music assets has been highlighted in H221 so far, by several important events and transactions, the largest being the flotation of Universal Music Group, spun out of Vivendi. There has also been a substantial flow of private equity funding into music assets, with KKR, Apollo Global Management and Blackstone each injecting over $1bn. A continuing flow of substantive catalogue transactions implies a healthy market, with high-quality portfolios, such as that managed by RHMRF, achieving reportedly good valuations, although, as ever, pricing details are confidential.
The analyst’s view
In our view, RHMRF has compiled a strong portfolio of assets through its purchases of the Round Hill Fund One assets, an interest in the Carlin portfolio and further five 2021 catalogue acquisitions. We regard the prices paid for the seed portfolio in February and April 2021, see Exhibit 1, as appropriate for the underlying asset quality, which is mature and well diversified by genre. RHMRF’s revenues are set for strong growth, driven by the popularity of streaming (21% of the portfolio at end-June 2021), newer formats such as social media, gaming and fitness, and potential favourable regulatory changes (see our initiation report for details). The manager Round Hill has generated a historical internal rate of return of over 17% (over the past 10 years) on its three private funds.
Fund profile: High-quality music royalties specialist
RHMRF listed on the London Stock Exchange on 13 November 2020, with the IPO raising $276.4m. It is the second UK-listed closed-end fund investing in music royalties (following Hipgnosis Song, SONG, listed in July 2018). Its NAV is $319.31m (as reported in the accounts on 30 June 2021) and the market capitalisation is $356.5m. The economic NAV (see the NAV reporting and sensitivities section below) is $352.65m based on audited $1.07 economic NAV per share at 30 June 2021). A secondary fund-raise in December 2020 raised $46.1m net (46.1m shares at $1.01) and in July 2021 the fund raised a further $86.5m in a ‘C’ share issue. Both raises were within its placing programme.
The company seeks to invest in music royalties with a proven track record and wide audience appeal. Exhibit 1 below summarises RHMRF’s catalogue acquisitions to date.
Exhibit 1: RHMRF’s acquisitions since launch
Date |
RHM's name for the catalogue |
Number of catalogues |
Number of songs |
Value ($m) |
NPS multiple |
Generated revenues prior to acquisition ($m) |
1-Feb-21 |
Assets of Round Hill Fund One |
38 |
>18,000 |
282 |
16.3x |
>38m |
4-May-21 |
29.14% minority investment in the RH Carlin portfolio |
1 |
>100,000 |
c 40 |
16.2x |
Undisclosed |
11-Aug-21 |
Trevor Rabin |
1 |
3,520 |
Undisclosed* |
Undisclosed* |
Undisclosed* |
9-Sep-21 |
Dennis Elliott |
1 |
71 |
Undisclosed* |
Undisclosed* |
Undisclosed* |
15-Sep-21 |
Tim Palmer |
1 |
30 |
Undisclosed* |
Undisclosed* |
Undisclosed* |
28-Sep-21 |
O'Jays |
1 |
532 |
Undisclosed* |
Undisclosed* |
Undisclosed* |
2-Nov-21 |
Supertramp admin |
1 |
39 |
Undisclosed* |
Undisclosed* |
Undisclosed* |
Source: RHMRF. Note: *Due to commercial sensitivities, the company is unable to disclose financial details for each acquisition as it occurs. However, on completion of the investment of proceeds from the C Share fundraise of $86.5m, together with the remaining undrawn balance of its existing revolving credit facility, the company will make further financial disclosure on the acquisitions.
Further details of the investments are given below.
RHMRF targets an annualised TR to investors of 9–11% over the medium term, after fees and expenses. It also targets a 4.5 cents per share annualised dividend payment, payable quarterly.
NAV reporting and sensitivities
The IFRS NAV per share was $0.97 at 30 June 2021. An independent valuer, Massarsky Consulting, valued RHMRF’s portfolio at $1.07 audited economic NAV per share (30 June 2021), using a 8.5% discount rate (50bp down from 30 June 2020’s valuation 12 months earlier). As stated in the H121 company’s report, the RHMRF’s board believes an economic NAV provides a meaningful alternative performance measure. The directors note the values of catalogues owned directly by RHMRF are based on fair values produced by the portfolio independent valuer. The company floated at $0.98 economic NAV per share.
Massarsky also valued the Hipgnosis portfolio at 31 March 2021 using an 8.5% rate (unchanged from its previous valuation six months earlier, but 50bp down on 31 March 2020 rate).
The key factors in music royalties’ valuation models are:
■
royalty revenues growth rates;
■
the discount rate used in valuation;
■
the valuation time horizon; and
■
the terminal value assumed.
RHMRF intends to publish NAVs twice per year within its reports. Under IFRS, the songs in the company’s portfolio are classified as intangible assets under IAS 38. The catalogues are held at cost and amortised over their useful life (which is determined at acquisition), less any impairment. The directors also disclose the fair value of the portfolio of songs as determined by the independent valuer, Massarsky, using a discounted cash flow. This portfolio valuation forms the basis of what RHMRF calls the ‘economic NAV’ (Hipgnosis calls this measure ‘operative NAV’). We note that ‘economic NAV’ might differ from the portfolio value, as amortised cost has been used in the IFRS NAV in the accounts.
Team changes
On 5 November 2021 RHMRF announced that Neil Gillis, who is Round Hill’s president, has decided to retire from full-time employment at Round Hill Music when his contract expires on 28 February 2022, to allow him time to take up producing and teaching music. Over the past year, there has been a gradual transition of operational oversight within the investment manager from Neil to Steve Clark, who joined Round Hill as global chief operating officer from Warner Chappell Music in August 2020. Based in the UK, Steve is a highly respected industry figure, having been at Warner Music for over 20 years and sitting on several industry bodies.
Industry profile raised further
The rate of music industry portfolio and rights deal flow has remained strong over recent months, with the volume of deals encouraging other rights’ owners to evaluate their options to release value from their work.
From an investment perspective, the attraction of the quality and the quantum of revenue streams has been further validated by significant sums of private equity funding coming into the market. Particularly noteworthy are investments by:
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KKR and Dundee Partners of $1.1bn, buying KMR Music Royalties II portfolio, consisting of 62k copyrights.
■
Blackstone, seeding a new private fund to be managed by Hipgnosis with $1bn.
■
Apollo Global Management investing $1bn into a new venture, HarbourView, to be focused on music rights and media content and headed up by the former head of Tempo Music Investments.
In the quoted arena, the IPO of Universal Music Group on Euronext in September has also drawn close attention to the valuation of music assets. The group is valued at €47.3bn ($53.4bn), with the post IPO performance also benefiting other music-related stocks’ share prices, including Believe (BLV, mkt cap: €1.9bn/$2.1bn) and Warner Music Group (NASDAQ: WMG, mkt cap $23.3bn).
Portfolio
Acquisitions
Since our last report, the group has announced five acquisitions of music publishing catalogues, master royalty income, recorded music income, neighbouring rights and publishing rights (for definitions, please see our initiation report) using the $86.5m of funds raised in the C Share issue. These comprise:
■
August 2021: 3,528 film cues and songs by Trevor Rabin, best known for his time with the band Yes. This an open market purchase and includes the scores to over 40 films. Round Hill Music’s interest is 50%.
■
September 2021: master royalty rights to the first seven albums (71 songs) by Foreigner from their original drummer, Dennis Elliott (Round Hill Music interest 100%)
■
September 2021: 30-song catalogue from Tim Palmer, recorded music income and publishing rights. This includes 100% of the mixer royalty income for Pearl Jam’s album, Ten; 100% producer income of master recording rights for Ozzie Osbourne album, Down to Earth, plus 100% of the publishing interest in six of the 11 songs on that album.
■
September 2021: 100% master royalty income of 532 original recordings from the O’Jays. Streaming generated 64% of revenue across FY18–20.
■
November 2021: 100% of neighbouring rights to 39 original recordings from three longstanding members of Supertramp, which obviously fit well with the fund objectives.
In February 2021, RHMRF completed the acquisition of its first investment, which consisted of the assets of Round Hill Fund One, less the 29.14% minority investment in the RH Carlin portfolio. These assets were bought for $282m, the amount of the IPO proceeds (86% of the IPO proceeds plus December 2020 raise). The Carlin minority was subsequently purchased shortly after, in April 2021. The majority ownership (70.86%) of Carlin rests with Round Hill Fund Two and a Carlin co-investment vehicle (see the Investment manager section on page 3). At the time of the second acquisition, RHMRF announced it had entered a revolving credit facility with trust, allowing it to draw up to 25% of the fund’s economic value, which part funded the Carlin purchase.
■
The first investment consists of 38 catalogues, containing over 18k songs, purchased at 16.3x net publisher’s share (NPS). This catalogue had generated revenues of over $83m before its purchase.
■
The second investment (the Carlin minority investment) consists of over 100k songs in one catalogue, bought at 16.2x NPS.
Further pipeline assets
Given RHMRF’s recent acquisitions, the July 2021 ‘C’ share equity raise of $86.5m gross proceeds and the company’s pipeline of c $300m in estimated acquisition value (at end-June 2021), we estimate the current pipeline is worth over $200m (at end-October 2021). Round Hill Music has also seen significant deal flow emerge from within its existing catalogues (including the pipeline investments) and has a proprietary position on those deals.
Current portfolio positioning
RHMRF’s portfolio has 39 catalogues with over 118,000 songs (at end-June 2021). Exhibits 2 and 3 illustrate the portfolio is diversified by genre and revenue type. ‘Older’ genre rock (41%) has the largest share, followed by pop (24%) and country (13%). Following the investment manager’s ‘high quality compositions’ approach to primarily acquire songs over 10 years old, more than 75% of all the songs in the portfolio are ‘vintage’, written before 2000. The portfolio is also diversified by revenue type, with a quarter of the portfolio’s revenues in masters’ royalties (Exhibit 3).
Exhibit 2: Portfolio breakdown by genre, Jun 21 |
Exhibit 3: Portfolio breakdown by revenue type, Jun 21 |
Source: RHM |
Source: RHM |
Exhibit 2: Portfolio breakdown by genre, Jun 21 |
Source: RHM |
Exhibit 3: Portfolio breakdown by revenue type, Jun 21 |
Source: RHM |
Performance: Trading since 13 November 2020
RHMRF’s performance track record began on 13 November 2020, the first day of trading of the trust. RHMRF’s share price is shown in absolute terms in the left-hand chart and in relative terms in the right-hand chart of Exhibit 4, compared to the MSCI UK All Cap Index.
Exhibit 4: Investment trust performance to 31 October 2021 |
|
Share price total return performance |
Price, NAV and benchmark total return performance (%) |
Source: Refinitiv. Note: Three-, five- and 10-year performance figures annualised. |
A comparison of RHMRF’s and SONG’s performance is presented in Exhibit 5.
Exhibit 5: Selected peer group as at 31 October 2021*
% unless stated |
Market cap £m |
NAV TR |
NAV TR |
NAV TR |
Sl** of RHM |
Prem/disc |
Ongoing charge |
Perf. |
Net |
Dividend |
Round Hill Music Royalty |
263.8 |
|
|
|
5.6 |
1.2 |
0.7*** |
Yes |
109 |
4.5 |
Hipgnosis Songs |
1,545.5 |
(0.1) |
38.1 |
|
(1.2) |
0.7 |
1.6 |
Yes |
133 |
4.1 |
Simple average (2 funds) |
904.7 |
(0.1) |
38.1 |
N/A |
2.2 |
1.0 |
1.1 |
121 |
4.3 |
|
RHM rank in peer group |
2 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
1 |
N/A |
2 |
1 |
Source: Morningstar, Edison Investment Research. Note: *Performance based on cum-fair NAV. **Sl = since launch. ***Edison’s estimate from launch to end-June 2021, including outstanding fees. TR = total return. Net gearing is total assets less cash and equivalents as a percentage of net assets, and in the case of funds investing directly in operating assets, does not include gearing at the underlying asset level.
RHMRF has the lower market capitalisation of the two funds. Both RHMRF’s and SONG’s track records are relatively short, with SONG launched on 11 July 2018, approaching its three-year anniversary. In performance terms, since launch RHMRF has outperformed SONG on a NAV total return basis, but we note the very short performance period of around one year. It is typical for new funds to gain momentum over a year as they establish themselves, invest and begin harvesting IPO proceeds, as RHMRF has done. This period largely reflects the set-up stage for RHMRF, as it has now fully invested its IPO proceeds and geared up.
In terms of the premium/discount to NAV, we believe it is still too early to compare the two trusts, and the numbers in the premium/discount column in Exhibit 5 are indicative only. We note that SONG reported its latest economic (or operative) NAV per share ($1.7) on 31 March 2021, and RHMRF’s first post-launch reported economic NAV per share was $1.07 at 30 June 2021.
Dividends and dividend policy
RHMRF’s primary objective is to reward its investors with a stable income (it also aims for long-term growth of capital). In the H121 report, the board confirmed the 4.5% dividend yield target for the financial period to 31 December 2021. This is in line with RHM’s long-term annualised dividend yield target of 4.5%, by reference to the issue price of $1.0.
The company has declared and paid two interim dividends so far in FY21, totalling $0.01875. The first interim dividend of $0.0075 was declared in May and paid in June 2021, and the second of $0.0125 was declared in August and paid in September 2021. According to RHMRF, these interim dividends were covered by income in the extended H121 period since launch to 30 June 2021.
The dividend policy is to pay dividends quarterly: declare dividends for the quarterly periods ending March, June, September and December and pay in June, September, December and March respectively. Dividends are aimed to be paid out of royalties income, but can be paid out of capital, if necessary, within the dividend policy.
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Investment Companies
The H122 IFRS profit of £53.9m was the highest that Picton Property Income has ever recorded for a six-month period. EPRA earnings and dividends also grew as the property portfolio showed further strong outperformance. Strong reversionary potential and financial flexibility for accretive acquisitions are positive indicators for further growth, while Picton is attuned to the value-creating potential of sector consolidation.
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