Invalda INVL, one of the Baltic region’s leading asset management groups, at the end of the third quarter of this year had equity capital of EUR 60.9 million, or EUR 5.27 per share. From the start of the year to the end of September the group’s net equity per share increased 15.8%. Invalda INVL’s profit in the first three quarters of the year increased nearly 7.8 times compared with the same period last year to EUR 8.3 million.
“The results for three quarters of this year were strongly influenced by growth in the value of the group’s investments, especially its holdings of shares of Šiaulių Bankas, INVL Baltic Real Estate and Litagra,” said Darius Šulnis, the president of Invalda INVL.
Asset management
The Invalda INVL group’s assets under management were EUR 576.6 million at the end of September and were up 13.3% from the start of the year, while the number of clients grew by 4.4% to 186 000.
“In managing the assets entrusted to them in Lithuania and Latvia, the group’s asset management companies earned 23.1 million euros for clients between the start of the year and the end of the third quarter,” Šulnis said.
As of October this year, Laura Križinauskienė assumed operational management of the Invalda INVL group’s main asset management business. She replaced Darius Šulnis as the CEO of INVL Asset Management. Šulnis continues to work with the strategic objectives of the Invalda INVL group and is focusing on private equity activities.
In early October, INVL Asset Management obtained a licence to manage collective investment undertakings intended for professional investors, and in the second half of November the INVL Alternative Assets Umbrella Fund II –a privately distributed closed-end investment fund intended for informed investors– began operating with its first subfund, the INVL Partner Energy and Infrastructure Fund. Additionally, in early November the company took over management of the Swedbank Supplementary Pension Fund, a 3rd pillar pension fund, from Swedbank Investicijų Valdymas, the fund’s management company until now.
INVL Asset Management in Latvia in August introduced the new passively managed 2nd pillar pension plan INVL Index Direct.
Group revenue from the asset management business in the first three quarters of the year was EUR 4.8 million, with a net profit of EUR 121 thousand. Invalda INVL’s investments in the asset management business totalled EUR 7.5 million at the end of the period.
Investments in controlled companies
INVL Baltic Real Estate
After three quarters of this year, the 32.13% equity stake that Invalda INVL held in the real estate investment company INVL Baltic Real Estate had a value of EUR 9.95 million, meaning a gain of EUR 2 million since the start of the year.
INVL Baltic Real Estate in September completed a EUR 1 million transaction for the sale of 3 000 square metres of office and warehouse premises on Kirtimų Street in Vilnius. The company also continued active work at the Vilnius Gates business centre: after completion in the third quarter of the main reconstruction works at the business centre, real occupancy of the premises reached 82%, which the company believes will result in significant growth of leasing income in the last quarter of this year.
INVL Technology
The equity value of INVL Technology, a company that invests in IT businesses, grew 1.1% in three quarters of this year to EUR 19.9 million. Invalda INVL owns 13.9% of INVL Technology’s shares, which at the end of the third quarter were worth EUR 2.6 million. In late September, a company owned by INVL Technology acquired 77.35% of the shares of the Finnish cybersecurity firm Deltagon Group Oy.
Other investments
Litagra
The value of the 36.9% stake in the agribusiness company Litagra was EUR 16.8 million at the end of the third quarter and grew 9.4% from the start of this year. The increase was due to the improving performance of farming production companies.
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 from now on, will continue to run its primary crop production business. 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 value of Invalda INVL’s 6.79% stake in Šiaulių Bankas, which is listed on the Nasdaq Vilnius exchange, rose 52.1% during three quarters of this year to EUR 17.5 million. “The bank’s successful development, the upgrade of its ratings to investment-grade by Moody‘s credit rating agency, and the consistent growth of its earnings for typical operations are positively influencing the growth in value of the bank’s shares,” Šulnis said.
The facility management sector
The value of Invalda INVL’s 100% stakes in the facility management companies Inservis, Priemiestis and Jurita after three quarters of 2017 was EUR 3.8 million and decreased 22.9% from the start of the year. The main reason for that was worsened operating results.
Other investments
The value of other investments increased between the start of 2017 and the end of September from EUR 2.4 million to EUR 3.3 million.
Balance sheet
Invalda INVL’s net asset value at the end of September 2017 was EUR 60.9 million, or 15.65% more than at the start of the year.
Invalda INVL, 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 575 million of assets entrusted to them by over 185 000 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.