Molten Ventures poised to slash investment by half after profits jump to £301m
London-listed venture capital firm Molten Ventures reported a surge in the value of its portfolio in the last 12 months but warned today it was braced for a slowdown in the year ahead as inflation begins to bite.
The FTSE-250 investor said its gross portfolio value had jumped to £1.53bn in the past 12 months as profits soared to £301m, up from £267m a year earlier.
Molten notched 37 per cent growth across its portfolio however, marking a slowdown from the 51 per cent print at the same point last year.
The jump in profits came alongside fresh cash investments of £311m from Molten’s own balance sheet, up from £128m last year, and a further £45m from enterprise investment scheme funds.
Boss Martin Davis hailed a year of “huge progress” for the firm but told City PM that investment would likely halve in the next 12 months as the investment environment cools amid soaring inflation and rising interest rates.
“I think there will be a slowdown, but I think that will really be us pushing some of our investment proof points much harder,” he said.
“And we need to be much more confident in an environment like this – there will still be good investments so we’ll probably still invest in the £100-150m mark this year, roughly half what we did last year.”
Davis said the firm’s portfolio of software and tech, firms would be resilient to the shocks in the market, with demand likely to remain strong through an economic slump.
“Despite recent volatility in world markets caused in part by the tragic events in Ukraine, VC remains resilient, and the European technology market continues to be an area of growth,” he added.
Molten’s bumper results come after a re-brand from ‘Draper Esprit’ last year, as well as a shift onto the premium segment of London Stock Exchange’s main market and the secondary listing segment of the official List of Euronext Dublin.