RM Secured Direct Lending PLC Quarterly Update (1801L)

TIDMRMDL

RNS Number : 1801L

RM Secured Direct Lending PLC

17 July 2017

17 July 2017

RM Secured Direct Lending Plc

("RMDL" or the "Company")

Quarterly Update

RMDL, an investment trust specialising in secured debt investments, today announces its quarterly update, having continued to deploy funds and grow its portfolio of higher yielding secured lending opportunities. The Factsheet for the period to 30 June 2017 is now available to be viewed on the Company website https://rm-funds.co.uk/rmdl/investor-reports/.

As at 30 June 2017, the NAV per share was 97.57p and Total Net Assets were GBP55.9m. A dividend of 0.2p was paid during the month of June for the period from December 2016 to 31 March 2017.

RM Capital Markets Limited (the "Investment Manager") has continued to make progress originating and managing robust credit opportunities with quality businesses across a range of sectors, having substantially deployed the GBP7.1m raised in May 2017 via a placing of 7m new shares at 101.25p.

The Company's portfolio now comprises a total of 18 Loans across 10 sectors, with an average yield of 7.72% and a weighted-average life of 3.89 years.

New transactions during the quarter include:

-- Healthcare: GBP4.7m, 6-year Secured Notes achieving a blended yield of circa 8.5%, to Voyage Care, the UK's largest provider of critical care to people who have severe learning disabilities and related disorders

-- Energy: Three private bespoke energy transactions totalling GBP9.2m with an average net yield of just under 8%, well secured on assets which will be generating environmentally friendly energy across the hydro power and biofuel sectors

-- Consumer Finance: GBP2m investment in 7-year Senior Secured Notes paying 7.4% to NewDay, the leading UK consumer finance provider

-- Property Bridging: There have been three drawdowns totalling GBP3.5m across the facilities which were established and announced in Q1. The average yield is in excess of 8% with LTV sub 65%

The Company now has GBP58m of commitments of which GBP42m has been deployed on a cash basis. Approximately 20% are in public debt transactions, with the remainder split between club transactions, private bilateral loans and cash.

The portfolio has limited exposure to currency movements as 25% is deployed in Libor or inflation Loans of the fixed rate loans approximately 30% have a maturity of under three years.

The Investment Manager has an active pipeline of opportunities, some of which are due to close imminently, including GBP5.5m to fund an asset finance portfolio, ring-fenced as an asset pool of around 500 assets. This transaction is expected to grow this part of the portfolio, which is also expected to increase its proportion of Property Bridging over the next quarter, due to the low leverage, short-dated tenors and secure nature of these transactions.

Non-material changes to the Company's investment policy

The Company's investment objective and investment policy refer to investment in Loans to UK SMEs and mid-market corporates. The Board, with the support of the Investment Manager, has resolved that investments may (provided they otherwise comply with the Company's investment policy) also be made in Loans made to individuals and also to non-UK SMEs, provided that the assets and/or principle operations are within the UK.

The Company's investment objective and investment policy (as revised) is available on the Company's website at https://rm-funds.co.uk/rmdl/.

Investment Manager's Holding

RMDL, an investment trust specialising in secured debt investments, announces that RM Capital Markets Limited (the "Investment Manager") acquired 32,672 ordinary shares of 1 pence each ("Ordinary Shares") in the Company at 102.25 pence per share on 13 July 2017. This purchase was made pursuant to the Investment Manager's commitment to invest 50 per cent. of its management fee, on a quarterly basis, in Ordinary Shares.

Following the purchase, the Investment Manager's total holding of Ordinary Shares is 567,699.

James Robson, Chief Investment Officer of RM Capital Markets Limited, said:

"In the six months since we listed, we have successfully delivered against our strategy. This has been another positive and active quarter during which we raised and deployed new funds, and grew the portfolio. We also paid our maiden dividend, as part of our objective to generate sustainable dividends. We continue to see significant opportunity to offer funding solutions to businesses that are below the radar of many larger institutional direct lenders or traditional banks, but are too large or have more complex requirements to suit P2P platforms. We continue to source opportunities with businesses of varying sizes, that meet our strict credit criteria, and that enable us to continue to deliver value to shareholders."

-End-

For further information, please contact:

RM Capital Markets Limited - Investment Manager

James Robson

Pietro Nicholls

Tel: [phone]

Nplus1 Singer Advisory LLP - Financial Adviser and Broker

Gillian Martin

James Hopton

Tel: [phone]

Bell Pottinger - Financial PR

Elizabeth Snow

Tel: [phone]

International Fund Management - AIFM

Chris Hickling

Tel: [phone]

PraxisIFM Fund Services (UK) Limited - Administrator and Company Secretary

Anthony Lee

Tel: [phone]

About RM Secured Direct Lending

RM Secured Direct Lending Plc ("RMDL" or the "Company") is a closed-ended investment trust established to invest in a portfolio of secured debt instruments.

The Company aims to generate attractive and regular dividends through loans sourced or originated by the Investment Manager with a degree of inflation protection through index-linked returns where appropriate. Loans in which the Company invests are predominantly secured against assets such as real estate or plant and machinery and/or income streams such as account receivables.

For more information, please see https://rm-funds.co.uk/rmdl/investor-relations/

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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July 17, 2017 02:01 ET (06:01 GMT)