Oakley Capital Investments (OCI) has published a trading update for the year ended 31 December 2024, during which it provided an NAV total return of 2% (15p) or 6% (+40p) excluding the impact of foreign exchange, and a share price total of 3%. OCI’s unaudited NAV, based on a revaluation of all portfolio companies at year-end, was £1,226m, which represents a NAV per share of 695p. The full year total NAV return includes 45p of net valuation gains, c. 75% of which were driven by earnings growth. The largest contributors were IU Group, Phenna Group, Dexters, Bright Stars, and Steer Automotive Group.

Portfolio company performance

OCI says that its NAV growth during 2024 reflects a cautious near-term outlook, resulting from persistent macroeconomic headwinds but that, despite this environment, OCI’s underlying portfolio has demonstrated resilient performance. Three investments were realised in line with their carrying values, which OCI believes underlines the robustness of valuations and generating an average 2.3x gross money multiple and, looking ahead, Oakley anticipates stronger NAV growth.

Exit proceeds

OCI’s look-through share of proceeds from exits and refinancings during the period totalled £179m, consisting of £159m of realisations (idealista – £68m, Ocean Technologies Group – £49m and Schülerhilfe – £42m); and refinancings of £20m (Wishcard, GlobeTrotter and Schülerhilfe).

Investments

OCI made a total look-through investment of £299m, equivalent to c.25% of NAV at year-end, which included £214m of new platform deals (Steer Automotive Group – £64m, ProductLife Group – £40m, I-TRACING – £36m, Assured Data Protection – £27m, vitroconnect – £16m, Konzept & Marketing – £13m, Alerce – £9m and  Horizons Optical – £9m); follow-on investments of £54m including bolt-on acquisitions by Steer, Phenna Group, Bright Stars, Affinitas; and venure investments of £31m including Safely You, SafeBase, Daloopa, Netradyne.

OCI also converted $107m of its North Sails preferred equity position into ordinary equity “to better participate in the future returns of the leading action sports business”.

Cash and commitments

OCI’s total liquidity as at 31 December 2024 was £225m, comprising £103m of cash on the balance sheet and £122m in undrawn credit facilities. At the year-end, OCI’s outstanding commitments to the Oakley Funds totalled £646m, which it says will be deployed into new investments over the next five years with around c.£200m of this not anticipated to be drawn.