19 november 2020
08:18
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The investment company Gimv saw the value of its portfolio companies rebound in the past six months.
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Gimv
saw the value of its investment portfolio increase by more than 12 percent to 1.14 billion euros in the first half of its broken financial year. A remarkable comeback, because when Gimv announced its annual figures up to 31 March in May, the corona crisis – and especially the storm it caused on the stock markets – forced Gimv to record a capital loss of 236 million euros on the portfolio.
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The fact that the portfolio return is now higher again is due to the recovery of the stock markets, a few successful exits and, according to Gimv, the ‘resilience’ of a number of companies in the portfolio. “The impact of Covid-19 was very diverse depending on the sector, but overall it was less negative than originally estimated,” said CEO Koen Dejonckheere in the press release.
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Thanks to the improved state of affairs, the listed investment company was able to close the first half of the year with a net profit of 94 million euros or 3.67 euros per share. In the same period last year, Gimv had booked a net profit of more than 51 million euros.
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Televic
Despite the corona crisis, Gimv has not kept its money in its pocket in recent months, quite the contrary. At 105.5 million euros, it invested more in the first half of its financial year than it sold participating interests (103.4 million). The main new investments were Televic, a specialist in communication systems for trains, the biotech company Kinaset, and Rehaneo, a German platform for rehabilitation centers.
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The investment engine continues to run in the second half of the year. Gimv announced Thursday morning (see inset) that it has entered the biotech company SynOx Therapeutics. Earlier in October, Gimv had also injected extra growth capital into the Ghent scale-upe Worn, which develops software for utilities.
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Cash on the balance
The most important exits were the sale of the interest in the Flemish pallet specialist Contraload and the partial winding down of the participations in France Thermes and in the Swiss medtech company Spineart.
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At the end of September, Gimv still had almost EUR 303 million in its balance sheet that it can use for new investments. In addition, the holding company still has 200 million euros in credit lines with banks that can supplement the war coffers if necessary.
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Gimv invests in Irish biotech
The investment company, together with a number of biotech investors, is participating in a capital round of 37 million euros with the Irish company SynOxTherapeutics. That company is developing a therapy to treat tenosynovial tumors, tumors that can mainly develop on joints. SynOxTherapeutics is committed to emactuzumab, an antibody that can be used to treat this condition. For the further development and commercialization of emactuzumab, SynOxTherapeutics has a license agreement with the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche.
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