TVC Holdings plc Interim financial results for the period ended 30 September 2010

corporate news

TVC Holdings plc (“TVC” or the “Company”), the investment holding company, today (Wednesday, 10 November 2010) announces its Interim Financial Results for the 6 months ended 30 September 2010.

Key Performance Highlights:

• Equity value per share at 30 September 2010 of €0.85 (shareholders’ equity of €85.8 million and 101.1 million shares in issue). TVC’s closing bid price on 30 September 2010 of €0.50 represents a discount of 41% when compared to equity value per share, and a discount of 65% excluding cash and government bonds.
• Net assets at 30 September 2010 of €91.8 million mainly comprised of cash at bank and government bonds of €31.5 million (34%), quoted equity investments of €49.1 million (54%) and unquoted equity investments of €11.3 million (12%). TVC has no debt.
• Successful sale of investment in APT Licensing Limited in July 2010 realising proceeds of up to €1.4 million which, when combined with the proceeds of €1.4 million received from the sale of APT’s hardware division in 2009, represented a 1.5 times total return on the carrying value prior to disposal.
• In the 6 month period ended 30 September 2010, the value of the Company’s investment portfolio decreased by €12.0 million, mainly due to the mark down of its quoted investments (€11.9 million*) and an unrealised foreign exchange loss of €0.1 million on its unquoted portfolio, resulting in a loss before tax of €11.3 million and a 9% reduction in equity value per share.
• During the first 6 months of the year, TVC’s main focus was on optimising the value of the existing portfolio as well as positioning the business to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

Commenting on the Interim Results, TVC Holdings’ Executive Chairman, Shane Reihill, said:
“We have continued to work actively with our core portfolio investments to maximise their value.

“TVC’s cash plus two quoted investments, Norkom and UTV, represent 88% of our net asset value at 30 September 2010. Four unquoted investments represent the remaining 12% of our net asset value at 30 September 2010.

“We believe that there will be significant restructuring opportunities in Ireland and the UK where trading companies with excessive debt will need to raise new equity at attractive prices for new investors. TVC’s management has extensive experience of complex turnaround transactions. We expect the number of restructuring opportunities to increase over the next 12 months as banks focus on problems within their trading clients.

“With cash and government bonds increased to over €31 million and no debt in the Company, we believe that TVC is in a strong position to make additional long term investments at what we expect to be attractive valuations, adding further value to our investment portfolio. We also believe that, given this significant cash balance, the Company is in a very strong position to deliver its strategy and maximise value for all our shareholders”.

* Norkom Group plc - reduction in value of €15.5 million to reflect the movement in its share price from €1.55 to €0.91 and UTV Media plc - increase in value of €3.6 million to reflect the movement in its share price from £1.2125 to £1.35 during the period.