LONDON (Reuters) – European tech venture capital firm Molten Ventures cut the value of its portfolio by about 17%, measured in constant currency, on Wednesday to reflect the drop in public markets such as Nasdaq.
Chief Executive Martin Davis said listed tech stocks had fallen significantly, with the Nasdaq down 25% since March, which it had taken into account when valuing its core holdings in companies including Graphcore, Ledger and Revolut.
However, he said the strength of the dollar had provided a tailwind of around 5%, which meant the overall portfolio was down 12%, a “relatively modest drop”.
He said demand for the technology and services it backed remained strong, with revenue growing at an average rate of more than 60% in its core portfolio this year and forecast growth of 70% next year.
“Our businesses tend to focus on applying technology to enterprises rather than what you might call consumer cost of living discretionary spend-type solutions,” he told Reuters in an interview.
“As a result the revenue of our companies have remained pretty stable.”
Shares in Molten Ventures, which have fallen 64% in the last 12 months, gained as much as 8% on Wednesday morning to trade at 374 pence, which represents a 55% discount to its net asset value per share, which it expects to be not less than 830 pence.
Analysts at Berenberg welcomed the company’s revised approach to valuation.
“Investors wanted the company’s valuation to be kept simple,” they said. “Today, the company has done just that.”
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Sarah Young)
