- Pre-tax profits rose by 239 per cent to £10.3 million (31 December 2020: £3.0 million)
- Unrealised profit on the revaluation of investments rose by 197 per cent to £11.9 million (31 December 2020: £4.0 million)
- Fair value of portfolio rose by 37 per cent to £43.9 million at 31 December 2021 (30 June 2021: £32.0 million; 31 December 2020: £23.4 million)
- Basic earnings per share increased by 162 per cent. to 14.54p (31 December 2020: 5.56p)
- Net assets per share increased to 84.7p as at 31 December 2021 (30 June 2021: 69.8p; 31 December 2020: 56.8p)
- Post period end, the Group realised approximately £6.1 million through the sale of 25% of its holding in Exscientia
You can read the full results statement here .
The Exscientia share sales mean we have a strong balance sheet. We are well placed to provide additional support to our portfolio companies should it be required. The fundamentals of our business and those of our portfolio companies remain. We are in a good position to weather the highly uncertain climate we are currently experiencing and stay confident in our future prospects.
Frontier IP Chief Executive Officer Neil Crabb
Neil discussing the results with Proactive:
Frontier IP made strong progress during the first half of the financial year. The results are ahead of management expectations, as anticipated in the trading update released on 12 January 2022.
The Group saw good progress across its portfolio, with a focus on the achievement of technical, commercial, or funding milestones and building management teams.
The highlight was Exscientia’s successful listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market at a valuation of $2.9 billion in October 2021, the first of our portfolio companies to float. After the period end, the Group sold 25% of its shareholding in the company, raising a total of approximately £6.1 million in cash for an aggregate realised gain of £2.79 million. The Group intends to use the cash proceeds to provide further support for the portfolio and for general working capital purposes. Frontier IP retains 1,173,600 shares in Exscientia.
The Vaccine Group announced a major technical milestone in the development of its next-generation COVID-19 vaccine for use in humans with successful pre-clinical trials.
CamGraPhIC raised £1.6 million through an equity fundraising to accelerate development and scale up of its graphene-based photonics technology for high-speed telecommunicationsPulsiv strengthened its management team with the appointment of Adam Westcott as Chief Financial Officer.
Post period end, Celerum launched its first commercial product and announced it had signed its first customer. A pan-European project coordinated by Cambridge Raman Imaging was awarded €3.3 million by the European Innovation Council to develop a high-speed, low-cost Raman imaging device with the potential to transform cancer diagnosis and treatment.
The Group was also delighted to welcome Dame Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, DBE FREng FRS to the Frontier IP board as an independent non-executive director. Her immense experience across industry and government will be invaluable.
The proceeds raised from the sale of Exscientia shares significantly strengthened the balance sheet. The Group is well placed to provide support to its business and portfolio for the foreseeable future, despite the risks and uncertainties currently faced. These include the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, energy costs and inflation, as well as the continued impact of COVID-19. Progress across the portfolio remains encouraging and the Group looks forward to announcing further positive news in the coming months.
