Invalda INVL, one of the Baltic region’s leading asset management groups, had equity capital of EUR 55 million at the end of the first quarter of this year, or EUR 4.75 per share. From the start of the year to the end of March the group’s net equity per share grew 4.4%. Invalda INVL earned a profit of EUR 2.3 million in the first quarter of the year, versus a loss of EUR 182 000 in the same period last year.
“The results achieved are due to the increased value of the investments in Šiaulių Bankas and Litagra,” said Darius Šulnis, the CEO of Invalda INVL.
Invalda INVL in May conducted a share buy-back and acquired 0.19% of its own shares, for which it paid EUR 105 000. Additionally, the company concluded options contracts with its own employees and those of businesses in which it owns more than half of sharesfor 80 571 ordinary registered shares of the company.
Asset management
The Invalda INVL group had assets under management of EUR 521.8 million at the end of the first quarter of 2017, which is 2.6% more than at the start of the year. The number of clients increased from 178 400 to 180 500 during the quarter.
“In managing the assets entrusted to us, we earned 14.6 million euros for clients in the first quarter. We also started the year by introducing a new product – a fund intended for informed investors which offers the chance to invest in forests and broaden one’s investment portfolio with an asset class that until now was hard to access. The successful completion of the initial offer of the fund in May shows that this asset class is definitely relevant for the country’s investors,” Šulnis said.
Revenue from asset management activities in the first quarter was EUR 1.5 million, with a net loss of EUR 71 000 thousand. Invalda INVL’s investments in the asset management business totalled EUR 7.4 million at the end of the period.
Investments in controlled companies
INVL Baltic Real Estate
At the end of the first quarter of this year, the 32.09% equity stake that Invalda INVL holds in the real estate investment company INVL Baltic Real Estate had a value of EUR 8.4 million, for a gain from the start of the year of EUR 0.2 million. This company continues to actively work with the properties it owns, and particularly with its latest acquisition – the Vilnius Gates complex.
INVL Technology
The equity value of INVL Technology, a company that invests in IT businesses, decreased 2.4% in the first quarter of this year to EUR 19.26 million. Invalda INVL owns 13.9% of INVL Technology’s shares, which at the end of the first quarter were worth EUR 2.7 million. INVL Technology, currently in its investment period, is focused on the formation of a proper portfolio of companies and development strategy.
Other investments
Litagra
The 36.9% stake that the Invalda INVL group owns in the agribusiness company Litagra had a value of EUR 16.2 million at the end of the first quarter, an increase of 5.4% since the start of the year.
The shareholders of Litagra in February this year signed an agreement on ceding the company’s trading business and grain elevator network in Lithuania and Latvia to Achema Group. The Litagra group, having decided to focus on production activities, will continue to run its primary crop production business – companies in Lithuania that cultivate more than 9 000 hectares of land and the feed manufacturer Joniškio Grūdai. Completion of the transaction with Achema Group is planned after obtaining the approval of the Competition Council and carrying out other actions stipulated in the agreement.
Šiaulių Bankas
The market value of Invalda INVL’s 6.79% stake in Šiaulių Bankas, which is listed on the Nasdaq Vilnius exchange, rose 15.6% during the first quarter of this year to EUR 13.3 million.
“Šiaulių Bankas’s good results have drawn the attention of foreign and Lithuanian investors to its shares. We think this bank’s shares are still undervalued, though the gap between the market price and the fair value has gotten noticeably smaller,” Šulnis said.
The facility management sector
Invalda INVL owns 100% of the shares of the facility management companies Inservis, Priemiestis and Jurita, which had a value of EUR 5 million at the end of the first quarter of 2017, or 1.9% more than at the start of the year. “We continue to seek further growth opportunities in the facility management sector,” Šulnis said.
Other investments
The value of other investments increased during the first quarter of 2017 from EUR 2.4 million to EUR 2.5 million.
Balance sheet
Invalda INVL’s net asset value at the end of the first quarter of 2017 was EUR 55 million, or 4.4% more than at the start of the year.
Invalda INVL AB, operating since 1991, is one of the leading asset management groups in the Baltic countries. Companies the group owns in Lithuania and Latvia manage more than 20 mutual, real estate and pension funds (2nd and 3rd pillar), alternative investments, individual portfolios, private equity and other financial instruments. The group’s companies manage more than EUR 520 million of assets entrusted to them by over 180 000 clients in Lithuania and Latvia as well as international investors. The shares of Invalda INVL have traded on the Nasdaq Baltic securities exchange since 1995.