Mercia Asset Management - Profits, growth and value

Mercia reported a strong rise in the NAV of its Northern Venture Trust (NVT) subsidiary, reflecting the IPO of musicMagpie and other successful exits, leading to Mercia receiving a net performance fee of £1.6m. As a result, together with Mercia’s substantially recurring management fees, management expects H122 PAT to exceed £10m, with the FY22 adjusted operating profit (excluding the NVT net performance fee) expected to be materially ahead of market forecasts. The shares trade at a larger discount to NAV than peers and at a discount to the historical FY21 NAV of 40p. They also trade at a material discount to the prospective NAV implied by a strong H122 performance, even without considering the incremental value of the fund management business. As an alternative valuation approach, moving away from NAV, Mercia trades on 8.1x annualised H122 earnings.