Merian Chrysalis Investment Co. Ltd Quarterly NAV and COVID-19 Portfolio Update (0017O)

TIDMMERI

RNS Number : 0017O

Merian Chrysalis Investment Co. Ltd

27 May 2020

The information contained in this announcement is restricted and is not for publication, release or distribution in the United States of America, any member state of the European Economic Area (other than the Republic of Ireland), Canada, Australia, Japan or the Republic of South Africa.

This announcement contains inside information.

27 May 2020

Merian Chrysalis Investment Company Limited (the "Company")

Quarterly NAV Announcement and COVID-19 Portfolio Update

Net Asset Value

The Company announces that as at 31 March 2020 the unaudited net asset value ("NAV") per ordinary share was 108.65 pence.

The above NAV calculation is based on the Company's issued share capital as at 31 March 2020 of 336,742,424 ordinary shares of no par value.

The changes in valuation of the Company's portfolio that are included in the NAV are principally a function of three inputs:

-- The trading performances of underlying assets - Across the wider stock market, Merian Global Investors (UK) Limited (the "Investment Advisor") believes there has been an observable trend that digitally-enabled businesses have typically experienced less of an impact on trading performances than "offline" peers over the period affected by COVID-19. For the portfolio generally, trading has been robust and is discussed in more detail below;

-- Comparable valuations - The Investment Advisor notes the significant impact that COVID-19 had on global equity markets and listed comparable companies over the period. While it is hard to be certain of the medium and long-term effects of the pandemic, the Investment Advisor further notes the generally strong rebound in equity markets since period end;

-- The type of instrument being valued - A number of the Company's shareholdings contain downside protection, often in the form of preference structures, which can help to mitigate the impact of a decline in assessed valuations

Portfolio Update

The Investment Advisor is pleased with the performance of the portfolio. While certain companies have seen growth moderate versus expectations, a number have seen enhanced trading as a result of COVID-19. Among the aims of the Company, as set out at IPO, are to invest in companies that have both the ability to deliver growth rates substantially higher than the average UK plc and that can protect the duration of those rates via competitive advantage, e.g. via scale or technology. This led the Investment Advisor towards a group of businesses it labelled "tech-enabled disrupters".

In the Investment Adviser's experience, significant macroeconomic events typically accelerate already established trends. We believe COVID-19 will be one such event. Given the shutdown of many "traditional" areas of the economy, businesses and consumers have had to rely much more heavily on technology and online channels. These were sectors already growing faster than the wider economy, but have now been given added impetus. Not only can this lead to higher growth rates in the short term, it can also drive new user adoption at significantly lower cost than previously experienced.

With this in mind, we believe the Company is well positioned at this particular time from a thematic perspective and the strategy of the Company therefore remains unchanged.

Given the impact of COVID-19, the Investment Advisor felt it appropriate to collate recent, pertinent news on the investee companies, to give investors a better understanding of current trends.

TransferWise Limited ("TransferWise")

TransferWise has continued its journey to build the fastest, cheapest, easiest way to move money around the world. The company now has over seven million customers, moving more than GBP4bn per month.

In the period, TransferWise continued its high cadence of new service introductions with the launch of its 'Pay with TransferWise' partnership with accountancy software provider Xero , plus adding Apple Pay, GBP and EUR direct debits to its multi-currency account. The company further expanded its banking partnerships with ActivoBank in Portugal through its API. TransferWise for Banks is an API that directly integrates with a financial institution's existing infrastructure, which enables it to offer customers cheaper, faster, transparent payments to 80+ countries and in 54 currencies.

The company has reacted well to lockdown - with a business model well suited to remote working - and monthly transfer volumes remain healthy.

Graphcore Limited ("Graphcore")

The key news from Graphcore over the period was the successful capital raise of US$150m from a variety of new and existing investors, of which the Company was one. This left Graphcore with cash reserves of over US$300m as of January 2020. A number of tests showing strong intelligence processing unit (IPU) performance were also announced. Of particular note was one undertaken by Microsoft, where it used IPUs to assess intracranial images for haemorrhages; the test showed a doubling in speed for half the power. This follows more substantial performance data released over the back end of last year, which unveiled cutting edge results on some of the most complicated AI applications, such as natural language processing. The company also announced IPUs would be available on Microsoft Azure, as well as a bare-metal IPU cloud service with Cirrascale.

The business has adapted well to lockdown, following COVID-19, and continues to see strong engagement from sales leads.

Starling Bank Limited ("Starling")

During the quarter Starling launched new functionality, particularly a business toolkit aimed at SMEs that assists with invoice and cash flow tracking and helps submit VAT returns to HMRC. In February, it raised a further GBP60m from existing investors, including the Company, to continue its rapid expansion and also gave shares in the bank to all of its 800 employees. At this time, it announced it had passed 1.25m customers and GBP1.25bn of deposits. March saw the launch of a nationwide advertising campaign, establishment of a Cardiff office (with the creation of 400 jobs) and winning Best British Bank for a third year in a row at the British Bank Awards.

The bank adapted well to lockdown, helped by the fact it was created as an online offering. Post period end major steps were taken, with the bank being accredited for both the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, where a GBP300m financing agreement with Funding Circle was announced, and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme. A connected card, linked to a master account, was also unveiled to help carers continue to support people self-isolating.

Significant progress has been made over the last few months. Starling has now opened more than 1.4 million current accounts, including 155,000 business accounts, since launching its banking app in May 2017. Its deposit base has more than doubled in six months and it now stands at more than GBP2.4 billion. Starling is one of the fastest growing SME banks in Europe - holding a 2.6% share of the UK SME market - and has almost GBP500m of SME lending on its balance sheet.

Klarna Holding AB ("Klarna")

Klarna announced its FY19 annual results during the period, showing sustained growth both in the UK and globally. Year-on-year global volumes and revenue increased by 32% and 31% respectively, while the volume processed now amounts to over $35bn per annum. Since launch, over 7m customers have now used Klarna in the UK, an increase of two times compared to last year. Klarna now has more than 5,000 live merchants in the UK and 500 of these brands have also launched in-store offerings.

The company also announced that Ant Financial Services Group, owner and operator of the world's leading payments and lifestyle platform Alipay, has taken a minority stake in Klarna. This investment supports the further developments of its strategic cooperation, bringing more of Klarna's innovative solutions to consumers and merchants within the broader Alibaba ecosystem. In an announcement made in early March, Klarna stated "During 2020, the company will continue to gain strong momentum on current markets as well as enter new markets, with an already strong start to the year with the recent successful launch of the Klarna app in Australia."

Embark Group Limited ("Embark")

Embark completed its acquisition of Zurich's Investment and Retail Platform post period end. This transferred cGBP11bn assets under administration ("AUA") of platform assets, and cGBP0.6bn of multi-asset assets under management to Embark, along with an advised client book of more than 130,000, largely dominated by SIPP clients. This takes Embark's AuA to over GBP33bn, serving more than 365,000 consumer clients across all its channels and brands, up from cGBP16bn at the time of the Company's initial investment. These transactions position Embark as the seventh largest player in the advised platform market in the UK.

Embark has been recognised in the WealthTech 100 as one of the most innovative Wealth Tech companies in 2019 and 2020.

The Hut Group Limited ("THG")

In March, THG reported a surge in demand for its health, beauty and nutrition products across its world-leading brands, including MyProtein.com and Lookfantastic.com. This led the group to bring forward its recruitment plans from later this year, with the creation of 500 permanent positions across manufacturing, fulfilment and logistics. The majority of roles (c350) will be created at THG's 1m sq. ft. manufacturing and fulfilment centre in Warrington, Cheshire.

Ingenuity, THG's end-to-end ecommerce platform, is also gaining significant traction. Post period end, the company announced the signing of a GBP100m, ten-year contract with Nestle Health Science. THG will deliver a fully serviced, global ecommerce platform, to internationally scale a number of Nestle's brands. THG has now partnered with a number of international retailers, including Procter & Gamble, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Johnson & Johnson, Groupe L'OCCITANE and Nintendo, and this enables the group to dispatch over 68 million items to customers globally.

THG is currently trading at elevated levels, driven by the performance of non-discretionary nutrition and personal care categories, and is ahead of its 2020 budget.

FinanceAPP AG ("wefox")

wefox has had a successful start to the year and now generates more than EUR100m in sales, which represents a growth rate of four times over 2018. The company raised over EUR200m in 2019, more than any other European InsureTech asset, and the proceeds will be used to expand across Europe, as well as building out a new platform that will be launched later this year to sit alongside its existing insurance products.

The company's group owns ONE, an insurance company, and wefox, a digital marketplace for insurance that employs 330 people and serves 350,000 customers across six markets. The company operates in Switzerland, Germany, Spain and Austria and launched in Italy at the beginning of the quarter.

Sorted Holdings Limited ("Sorted")

Sorted has had a very strong start to the year, generating annual recurring revenue growth in excess of 100% year-on-year and winning a number of material clients.

During the period, Sorted signed JD Sports with two distinct projects covering UK and Europe; Insight, a Fortune 500 business IT reseller with $7bn turnover; George at ASDA; and a global contract with a British multi-brand enterprise retailer. The company also went live in Australia and will launch in Japan and South Korea later this year. It is now live in over 14 countries across Europe and the US.

Sorted's carrier library, which represents a material barrier to entry for new entrants to the market, continues to expand with new carriers in Europe, US and Australia recently added.

Generally, the impact of COVID-19 has seen retailers increasingly relying on their digital capabilities and this has led to increased focus and spending on their online propositions, including with Sorted.

Secret Escapes Limited ("Secret Escapes")

As an online travel business, the company has seen a significant impact from the pandemic and related restrictions to travel. As previously announced, the Company recently made a GBP2.6m follow-on investment, as part of a wider funding round, in order to support Secret Escapes navigate through a variety of COVID-19 stressed trading scenarios, as well as allowing it to benefit from accelerated channel shift and less competition post-lockdown.

Growth Street Holdings Limited ("Growth Street")

As previously reported, two significant loans that the company had originated fell into default over the final quarter of 2019, which was very disappointing. Given the nature of this investment, this was a relatively small unit within the portfolio at outset. The combination of the defaults, exacerbated by COVID-19, led Growth Street to initiate a 'liquidity event' in the first quarter of 2020 and close investor access to its platform. This has enabled the company to maintain stability within its loan book and will help to protect both borrowers and investors from any further disruption as a result of COVID-19.

Portfolio Activity

During the three-month period ending 31 March 2020 the Company made a US$25m follow-on investment in Graphcore in January, to assist in the on-going commercialisation of its technology. The Company also continued to support Starling Bank's development, by contributing to the GBP60m it raised in February. Post period end, the Company completed follow-ons in both Secret Escapes - to help it navigate the disruption to the travel industry caused by COVID-19 - and in Embark, as previously announced. It also made a new investment in Featurespace Limited, thus bringing the total number of holdings in the portfolio to 11.

Portfolio Composition

Following a number of recent transactions, the Company is now approximately 88% per cent fully invested.

As at 26 May 2020, the portfolio composition is as follows:

 
 Portfolio Company            % of Investment Portfolio 
 TransferWise                           18.5% 
                             -------------------------- 
 Graphcore                              14.0% 
                             -------------------------- 
 Starling                               13.9% 
                             -------------------------- 
 Klarna                                 9.2% 
                             -------------------------- 
 Embark Group                           9.0% 
                             -------------------------- 
 THG                                    8.8% 
                             -------------------------- 
 Featurespace Limited                   5.4% 
                             -------------------------- 
 wefox                                  3.5% 
                             -------------------------- 
 Sorted                                 2.7% 
                             -------------------------- 
 Secret Escapes                         2.3% 
                             -------------------------- 
 Growth Street                          0.8% 
                             -------------------------- 
 Cash and Cash Equivalents              12.1% 
                             -------------------------- 
 

Source: Merian Global Investors, as at 26/05/2020 based on current valuations. Due to rounding the figures may not add up to 100%.

Portfolio Liquidity

The Investment Advisor recognises that the full ramifications of COVID-19 may take some time to emerge and is continuously assessing its capital requirements. Based on a range of reasonable COVID-19-related trading scenarios and regular contact with its investee companies, the Investment Advisor continues to believe the Company has adequate liquidity to support its portfolio. As of the date of this announcement, available cash and equivalents were approximately GBP45m; the Company remains ungeared.

Factsheet

An updated Company factsheet will shortly be available on the Company's website: https://www.merian.com/chrysalis/

Corporate Update

The Board has noted the acquisition of the Company's Investment Adviser's parent company, Merian Global Investors Limited by Jupiter Fund Management plc, subject to regulatory approval. The Board will be updating shareholders shortly on the implications of the acquisition for the Company, but it remains its understanding that the investment advisory team will remain in place post the acquisition by Jupiter Fund Management plc.

-ENDS-

 
 
 
 
   For further information, please 
   contact: 
 
   Merian Global Investors: 
   Amelie Shepherd                       [phone] 
 Liberum: 
  Gillian Martin / Owen Matthews       [phone] 
 Maitland Administration (Guernsey) 
  Limited: 
  Elaine Smeja / Hannah Le Page        [phone] 
 

LEI: 213800F9SQ753JQHSW24

A copy of this announcement will be available on the Company's website at https://www.merian.com/chrysalis/.

The information contained in this announcement regarding the Company's investments has been provided by the relevant underlying portfolio company and has not been independently verified by the Company. The information contained herein is unaudited.

This announcement is for information purposes only and is not an offer to invest. All investments are subject to risk. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Prospective investors are advised to seek expert legal, financial, tax and other professional advice before making any investment decision. The value of investments may fluctuate. Results achieved in the past are no guarantee of future results. Neither the content of the Company's website, nor the content on any website accessible from hyperlinks on its website for any other website, is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement nor, unless previously published by means of a recognised information service, should any such content be relied upon in reaching a decision as to whether or not to acquire, continue to hold, or dispose of, securities in the Company.

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May 27, 2020 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)