Pires Investments plc
(Incorporated in England and Wales with registered number 02929801)
Annual Report and
Financial Statements
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022
PIRES INVESTMENTS PLC
Annual Report and Financial Statements
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022
Contents
Page | |
Company Information | 1 |
Review of Activities | 2 |
Strategic Report | 8 |
Directors Report | 11 |
Report on Remuneration | 13 |
Statements of Directors' Responsibilities | 14 |
Corporate Governance Report | 15 |
Independent auditor's report to the members of Pires Investment plc | 22 |
Statement of Comprehensive Income | 26 |
Statement of Changes in Equity | 27 |
Statement of Financial Position | 28 |
Statement of Cash flows | 29 |
Notes to the Financial Statements | 30 |
PIRES INVESTMENTS PLC
Annual Report and Financial Statements
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022
Company Information
Directors | Nicholas Lee (Director) |
John May (Director) | |
David Palumbo (Director) | |
Secretary | Robert Porter |
Registered office | 9th Floor, 107 Cheapside |
London | |
EC2V 6DN | |
Independent Auditors | PKF Littlejohn LLP |
Statutory Auditor | |
15 Westferry Circus | |
London E14 4HD | |
Nominated adviser | Cairn Financial Advisers LLP |
9th Floor, 107 Cheapside | |
London | |
EC2V 6DN | |
Broker | Peterhouse Capital Limited |
3rd Floor | |
80 Cheapside | |
London | |
EC2V 6DZ | |
Registrars | Computershare Investor Services plc |
PO Box 82 | |
The Pavilions | |
Bridgwater Road | |
Bristol | |
BS99 7NH | |
Company Registration number | 02929801 |
Page | 1
PIRES INVESTMENTS PLC
Review of Activities
Annual Report and Financial Statements
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022
Highlights
Financial highlights
- Net asset value ("NAV") of £7,822,000 as at the year‐end (31 December 2021: £7,223,000), an increase of 8.3% compared to the prior year figure
- NAV per share of 4.28 pence per share (2021: 4.56 pence) a decrease of 6.0% compared to the previous year
- Loss of £0.37 million for the year (year ended 31 December 2021: profit before taxation of £1.49 million)
- Placing to raise £500,000 before expenses in August 2022
- Two‐year debt funding facility amounting to £1.235 million announced on 22 December 2022
- The Pires share price is currently at a 57% discount to its NAV per share of 4.28 pence
Portfolio highlights
- Getvisibility - raised €10 million from two new venture capital investors at a significantly increased valuation
- Investment in a second Sure Valley Ventures ("SVV2") fund, alongside the British Business Bank ("BBB"), an investment arm of the UK Government SVV managed funds made new investments in Everyangle, Jaid and Retinize
- Portfolio companies continue to attract international investors such as Alpha Intelligence Capital, Fortino Capital Partners, Act Venture Capital and Furthr VC.
- Smarttech247 successfully achieved a listing on AIM, at a significantly higher valuation compared to the original investment cost.
- Sure Valley Ventures Fund ("SVV1") enters realisation phase of its investment cycle
Review of activities
Pires Investments plc is an investment company focused on next generation technology with a focus on AI. Pires invests in its portfolio companies directly, or indirectly through (i) its investment in two funds managed by SVV and (ii) its investment in Sure Ventures plc.
2022 was a testing year for small‐cap listed companies and for those companies with a technology focus. However, a significant uplift in value was achieved both from the Company's investment in Getvisibility, and Smarttech247 achieved a listing on AIM, notwithstanding difficult market conditions. More generally, the Company has taken a prudent view on the value of its investment portfolio and adjusted the value of certain of its investments downwards to reflect the current weak economic background. Consequently, the net effect of these non‐cash adjustments has, unfortunately, led to an overall loss for the year.
The Company's principal investment portfolio categories are summarised below: | ||
Cost or | Cost or | |
valuation at | valuation at | |
31 December | 31 December | |
2022 | 2021 | |
£000's | £000's | |
Categories | ||
SVV funds | 5,219 | 4,146 |
Direct investments | 2,901 | 2,835 |
Cash/other listed securities | 856 | 409 |
Total | 8,976 | 7,390 |
Page | 2
PIRES INVESTMENTS PLC
Review of Activities (continued)
Annual Report and Financial Statements
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022
- Investments in SVV funds
1. Sure Valley Ventures Fund ("SVV1")
SVV1 is SVV's first fund which has completed its new investment phase and has now entered its realisation phase. It has already achieved three realisations/liquidity events to date, including the recent listing of Smarttech247, with more expected in the short term.
Within the SVV1 portfolio, highlights during 2022 include:
- Getvisibility raised €10 million from new investors including Alpha Intelligence Capital, a global venture capital firm which invests in deep artificial intelligence/machine learning technologybased companies and Fortino Capital Partners, a leading B2B software venture capital and growth equity firm.
- Admix, the leading In‐Play monetisation company that bridges the gap between gaming content and brands, merged with LandVault Inc ("LandVault") (https://landvault.io/), a builder of virtual experiences in metaverse worlds aimed at attracting people into blockchain and metaverse ecosystems, in order to enter into the Web3 space.
- A new investment was made in Everyangle. Everyangle is a Dublin‐based computer‐vision company that helps physical retailers, hospitality venues and convenience service stations optimise operations. Everyangle raised €2.7 million in a seed fundraise in October 2022. This fundraise marked the final new company investment within SVV1, and the funds will be used to accelerate sales, invest in ongoing product development, and drive further expansion in the US and UK. The funding round was led by SVV, Act Venture Capital and Furthr VC (formerly DBIC Ventures), with participation from Enterprise Ireland.
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Smarttech247 Group plc ("Smarttech247") (AIM: S247) is an established global artificial intelligence‐based cybersecurity business, specialising in automated managed detection and response. It has a successful track record of revenue growth and profitability and is positioned at the intersection of three major cyber security growth markets: security threat incidents, growth of cloud adoption and proliferation of cyber security data generation that needs to be integrated.
On 15 December 2022, the company's shares were admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market raising gross proceeds of £3.7 million through a placing at a price of 29.66 pence per new ordinary share. Smarttech247's share price as at 19 June 2023 was 34.5 pence per share, representing an increase of approximately 16% since listing and a significant uplift compared to the level at which the investment was initially made. The recent full year and interim results of Smarttech247 support the company's growth trajectory.
As at the year end, SVV1 had a portfolio of 15 investee companies at different stages of development spanning a range of sectors. This portfolio provides Pires with exposure to a number of key, cutting‐edge and rapidly growing technology sectors. Further details of the portfolio companies and recent developments are set out below:
Artificial intelligence | |||
Ambisense | Provides an artificial intelligence platform to deliver environmental risk assessment to allow | ||
(Ambisense Limited) | realtime gas and environmental monitoring using both IoT and sensor solutions. The | ||
company has already been awarded a number of major contracts and has a substantial | |||
pipeline of opportunities. | |||
Buymie | An artificial intelligence based same day grocery delivery company operating in both the UK | ||
(Buymie Technologies) | and Ireland working with companies such as Tesco, Lidl, Asda and the Co‐op. | ||
EveryAngle | An artificial intelligence platform that uses machine learning to provide enterprises, such | ||
as large retailers, with line of business solutions to reduce fraud, churn and waste using | |||
machine vision. | |||
Security | |||
Nova Leah | An artificial intelligence cyber‐security risk assessment and protection platform for | ||
(Nova Leah Limited) | connected medical devices. | ||
Getvisibility | An artificial intelligence security company addressing the substantial problem faced by | ||
(Visibility Blockchain Limited) | corporations in storing, sorting, accessing and protecting data. Recently raised additional | ||
funds at a significant premium and has been voted as one of Ireland's top 18 start‐ups | |||
Page | 3
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Disclaimer
Pires Investments plc published this content on 27 June 2023 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 28 June 2023 08:08:09 UTC.