Primorus Investments PLC (LON:PRIM) have reported a strong final quarter in their Tuesday update as subsidiary investments have led to success.
The firm hailed the recent performance of Greatland Gold (LON:GGP) as one of the drivers of success in the final quarter of 2019.
Primorus told the market that they had invested £625,000 into Greatland Gold, and this initial investment has now trebled to be valued at £1.9 million following a string of success for the gold miner.
The potential profit from its investment in Greatland stands at £1.3 million, and Primorus tips the investee’s share price to rise even further.
Primorus also noted that Truspine Technologies had made progress. This firm is a medical devices company, and Primorus said that Truspine is “moving fast towards a London IPO”.
Alastair Clayton, Executive Director commented:
“Whilst the fourth Quarter of 2019 was again another period of solid growth across our diverse portfolio, it is fair to say that post-period (early 2020) has got off to an excellent start. We will return to these headline-grabbing matters later on but given the long-overdue but underwhelming increase in share price at the time or writing, it is worth remembering that Primorus is not a one trick pony.
We find ourselves in early 2020 with a diverse and growing portfolio, primarily in unlisted technology and energy companies. Our 5 largest investments by deployed capital are Engage Technology Partners (£1.5m), WeShop (£875,000), Greatland Gold PLC (£625,000), TruSpine (£500,000) and Fresho (circa £260,000).
On top of our direct equity investments we sometimes add to our balance sheet through a use of debt investing that generates interest and picking up equity options. A good example of this was the Zuuse Series B investment where the outlay was returned to treasury and interest in fully paid shares and a significant number of in-the-money options (compared to last raise) being sent to the balance sheet.
We do also have shares in publicly listed companies in an effort to increase the liquidity and look through value of the portfolio. Sometimes these are very small investments made to effectively manage cash and add incrementally to the balance sheet through opportunistic means.
We may also sometimes identify something special that we believe represents an opportunity in a listed company that has the potential to make an outsized contribution to our shareholders. Clearly our investment in Greatland Gold PLC is an example of this.
So, the question really is what should our share price be if the core portfolio of unlisted investments is better recognised? I believe many of our investments have the potential to, or already have, eclipsed even the Greatland Gold investment in terms of performance and as demonstrated in 2019, many of our investments can be exited in the absence of a public quotation.”
Primorus driven by Greatland success
Greatland Gold have been successful over the last few weeks, and have seen a positive period of trading. In December, the firm said that it had identified mineralization at its mine in Tasmania, Australia.
The firm said it completed a systematic grid-based drilling programme at Firetower, comprising 14 diamond holes with depths from 50 metres to 160 metres, for a total of approximately 1,530 metres.
The programme was designed to test the main zone of gold mineralisation and results to date have confirmed broad widths of gold mineralisation, Greatland said.
In addition, two further holes were drilled for around 670 meters to test the new targets identified by a 3D induced polarisation survey at Firetower East, approximately 500m east of Firetower.
Shares in Primorus Investments PLC trade at 3p (-1.67%). 11/2/20 12:40BST.