TVC Holdings shed €66m of asset value

LAST YEAR’S market turbulence slashed more than €66 million off the value of assets held by quoted investment company TVC Holdings in the 12 months ended last March.

The company said yesterday that its basic loss per share for the 12-month period – its financial year – was 58 cent, compared with 32 cent in 2008. TVC holds stakes in broadcaster UTV and financial security software specialist Norkom,

TVC said that it had a net loss of €67.5 million for the year, compared with €19.2 million at its balance-sheet date in 2008, and a loss before tax of €66.2 million.

The losses were not realised, as the company operates by investing in and holding stakes in quoted and non-quoted businesses, and thus the deficit was only on paper.

The losses reflected the fall in the price of Norkom from €1.36 to €0.573, and the drop in UTV’s value from £1.26 sterling per share, the average price that TVC paid for its 15 per cent stake last year, to £0.60. Overall, the value of the quoted assets was down €35.2 million. TVC has a policy of conservatively valuing its non-quoted investments, which are in private businesses. It reduced the value of these by €31.4 million during the year.Chief executive John Treacy said that the company believed that it would have to reduce the non-quoted investment’s portfolio to reflect market conditions.

Last July, TVC paid £19.5 million (€22.8 million) for a 15 per cent stake in UTV, as part of an overall £49.9 million rights issue by the broadcaster. It subsequently paid a further €2.7 million to increase its holding to 18 per cent.

TVC’s executive chairman, Shane Reihill, now has a seat on the UTV board. The company is the biggest single shareholder in the radio and TV operator; the next largest is John McGuickian and his family, who have between 6 and 7 per cent.

UTV’s interests include the independent television franchise in Northern Ireland, shares in other Irish broadcasters, ownership of Sportstalk radio station in Britain and a new media business.

TVC sold its holding in Changing Worlds as part of its purchase by New York-listed Amdocs. This deal was worth a total of $20.5 million and realised a profit of €2 million for TVC.

Its remaining non-quoted investments are hotel franchise and management group Maldron, run by former Jury’s executive Pat McCann, banking customer software developer CR2, telecoms services testing equipment manufacturer Shenick, and sales software specialist, Tas Group.

TVC says its strategy is to have “four major platform investments”.