- Cash revenue up 38 per cent to record £30.3mn
- Free cash flow (FCF) up 40 per cent to £17.9mn (4.34p)
- EPS up 45 per cent to 4.85p
- Annual dividend of 2.8p
- 8.8 per cent dividend yield and 20 per cent discount to NAV
Hybrid funding provider Duke Capital (DUKE:31.75p), a company that takes equity stakes in profitable, owner-operated businesses and provides long-term capital in exchange for a percentage of future revenues, has delivered record results.
Acting as a partner to owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at the lower mid-market of the private capital market – typically businesses earning cash profit of between £2mn and £10mn – Duke benefits from having less competition to win deals, especially as banks continue to pull cash flow lending from this market segment. It’s a market that is becoming more mainstream as investment group BlackRock estimates that direct lending globally has risen more than sixfold to $650bn in the past seven years, making it the largest segment of the private credit market.