Crystal Amber Fund Limited Monthly Net Asset Value

 
TIDMCRS 
 
10 October 2017 
 
 
                          CRYSTAL AMBER FUND LIMITED 
 
                     ("Crystal Amber Fund" or the "Fund") 
 
                            Monthly Net Asset Value 
 
 
Crystal Amber Fund announces that its unaudited net asset value ("NAV") per 
share at 30 September 2017 was 203.15 pence (31 August 2017: 191.79 pence per 
share). 
 
The proportion of the Fund's NAV at 30 September 2017 represented by the ten 
largest holdings, other investments and cash (including accruals), was as 
follows: 
 
Top ten holdings               Pence per share Percentage of investee equity 
                                               held 
 
Hurricane Energy plc                52.2                     8.0% 
 
Northgate plc                       30.6                     5.2% 
 
STV Group plc                       20.7                     14.4% 
 
FairFX Group plc                    18.9                     16.5% 
 
Leaf Clean Energy Co.               13.2                     29.9% 
 
NCC Group plc                       12.9                     2.1% 
 
Ocado Group plc                      9.7                     0.5% 
 
Sutton Harbour Holdings plc          7.3                     29.3% 
 
GI Dynamics Inc                      7.1                     46.6% 
 
Johnston Press plc                   3.0                     21.2% 
 
Total of ten largest holdings       175.6 
 
Other investments                   21.1 
 
Cash and accruals                    6.4 
 
Total NAV                           203.1 
 
Investment Adviser's commentary on the portfolio 
 
Over the quarter to 30 September 2017, NAV per share decreased by 0.6 per 
cent.  Taking into account the 2.5p dividend paid over the period, the Fund's 
NAV returned a positive 0.6 per cent. The top contributors to NAV growth over 
the quarter to 30 September 2017 were FairFX Group plc (1.8 per cent) and NCC 
Group plc (1.8 per cent). Top detractors were GI Dynamics Inc (-1.2 per cent) 
and STV Group plc (-0.4 per cent). 
 
Hurricane Energy plc ("Hurricane") 
 
During the quarter, Hurricane finalised a $530 million fundraising for its 
Early Production System ("EPS") at Lancaster. The company is now fully funded 
and on track to achieve 'first oil' at Lancaster in the first half of 2019. 
 
In September 2017, Hurricane announced that it had taken the final investment 
decision on its EPS. The floating production, storage and offloading vessel, 
which will form the basis of the development, arrived in Dubai to be upgraded 
and Hurricane received approval from the regulatory authorities for its field 
development plan. 
 
Despite operational progress, Hurricane's share price was weak over the period, 
which the Fund believes was due to the poor handling of the fundraising.  The 
Fund maintains the view that the way the company has gone about the recent 
fundraisings has created a significant disconnect between the share price and 
the asset value. The Fund is engaging with the Hurricane Board to improve the 
company's governance and to release value. 
 
Drilling results over the last 12 months indicate that Hurricane holds a very 
large, quality asset, with a resource that the Fund believes could be in excess 
of 1.6 billion barrels of oil. 
 
FairFX Group plc ("FairFX") 
 
During the quarter, FairFX announced the acquisition of CardOne, a digital 
business banking and current account group, for GBP15 million. The company 
completed a GBP25 million fundraising at 58p per share to fund the 
acquisition. CardOne's functionality will enable FairFX to improve its offering 
for small and mid-cap businesses. 
 
Following investment demand and a strong share price, the Fund has trimmed its 
shareholding but remains excited by FairFX's prospects. 
 
Over the quarter, FairFX's share price increased by 22.2 per cent. 
 
NCC Group plc ("NCC") 
 
During the quarter, NCC presented the results of its strategic review 
confirming its intention to continue ownership of the Escrow and Assurance 
divisions and outlining plans to improve the organisation's effectiveness in 
serving its clients and delivering for shareholders. 
 
With legacy investments written-down, the Fund believes that the company is 
well positioned to return to profitability.  The Fund believes NCC's markets 
are high growth, reinforced by the fact that in July 2017, the company reported 
17 per cent growth in group revenues over the year to 31 May 2017, to GBP244.5 
million (2016: GBP209.1 million). 
 
In September 2017, NCC announced that it had hired three of the Bank of 
England's cyber specialists to lead a newly established threat assurance unit. 
These appointments prove NCC's confidence in the outlook for its consulting 
services. 
 
The Fund believes NCC's new management team has 'steadied the ship' following a 
string of profit warnings and we remain engaged with the management team to 
support it through the next phase of restructuring. 
 
NCC's share price increased by 32.2 per cent over the quarter. 
 
Leaf Clean Energy Co. ("Leaf") 
 
During the quarter, the Fund completed an unsecured loan note investment in 
Leaf of $1 million.  This facility will support the company's ongoing 
litigation with Invenergy. The Delaware Court has scheduled a trial for 25-27 
October 2017 to determine the amount of Leaf's damages. The company is seeking 
net $122.2m in damages from Invenergy, which compares to Leaf's market 
capitalisation at 30 September 2017 of GBP44.8m (c.$59.0m) and its latest 
available NAV at 30 June 2017, of $88.3m. 
 
STV Group plc ("STV") 
 
During the quarter, STV commenced its buyback programme, which was requested by 
the Fund. As the market continues to undervalue STV's shares, we are satisfied 
that by repurchasing its own stock, STV is creating long term value for 
shareholders. 
 
GI Dynamics Inc ("GID") 
 
During the quarter, the company continued to work with its notified body, SGS, 
to address the issues that resulted in the suspension of its CE Mark. 
 
Additional clinical evidence was presented at the European Association for the 
Study of Diabetes conference in Lisbon, which reported 12 months post explant 
data from the NHS demonstrating the ongoing benefits of Endobarrier post 
removal of the device. 
 
The Fund continues to work closely with GI Dynamics' management and board to 
fully capitalise on what the Fund believes is a world-class technology, 
addressing an unmet clinical need. 
 
For further enquiries please contact: 
 
Crystal Amber Fund Limited 
 
William Collins (Chairman) 
 
Tel: [phone] 
 
www.crystalamber.com 
 
Allenby Capital Limited - Nominated Adviser 
 
David Worlidge/James Thomas 
 
Tel: [phone] 
 
Winterflood Investment Trusts - Broker 
 
Joe Winkley/Neil Langford 
 
Tel: [phone] 
 
Crystal Amber Advisers (UK) LLP - Investment Adviser 
 
Richard Bernstein 
 
Tel: [phone] 
 
 
 
END 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 10, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)