CapMan Group's Financial Statements Bulletin for 1 January - 31 December 2015

CapMan Plc   Financial Statements Bulletin   4 February 2016 at 8.30 a.m.

CapMan Group's Financial Statements Bulletin for 1 January - 31 December 2015

Performance and main events for the financial year:

• Group turnover totalled MEUR 31.8 (2014: MEUR 39.5).
• Operating profit was MEUR 9.3 (MEUR 6.3).
• Profit before taxes was MEUR 6.4 (MEUR 4.9).
• Profit after taxes was MEUR 6.1 (MEUR 4.0).
• Earnings per share for the review period were 5.9 cents (3.4 cents) and diluted earnings per share were 5.8 cents (3.4 cents).
• Cash flow to CapMan from exits was MEUR 20.7 (MEUR 26.5).
• The Board of Directors will propose a dividend of EUR 0.07 per share

This stock exchange release is a summary of CapMan Plc's financial statements bulletin. The complete financial statements bulletin for the financial year 2015 is available in pdf-format as an attachment to this release and on the company's website at http://www.capman.com/capman-group/earnings-model-and-financials/result.

Key figures

Heikki Westerlund, CEO:

"Our earnings per share for 2015 improved in line with our guidance. The baseline profit of our overall fee income (management fees and other fees) has developed in the right direction. The earnings impact of Norvestia was good and attributable especially to the fair value development of growth equity. Our carried interest income was below the previous year's level and our target, but we expect to realise the potential from the funds in the future. The fair value development of our own funds improved from last year, but did not yet meet our target level.

Services became an increasingly important part of our business during the year. In the beginning of 2016, CapMan launched Scala Fund Advisory with its roots in the extensive international fundraising experience of the team. Scala offers fund advisory services to private equity fund managers and institutional investors and has already several external mandates. We have also signed the first contracts for private equity fund management. Our service offering includes e.g. reporting, valuation and fund compliance. We believe that services have significant long term growth potential and play an integral role in smoothing out the fluctuation of our earnings.

The development of our funds' portfolio companies and real estate was generally positive in 2015, but the decrease in oil prices and the development of the Norwegian krona and the rouble had a negative impact on the valuation of some portfolio companies. In addition, the weakness of the Finnish economy has slowed down the development of some investments. The value development of the CapMan Nordic Real Estate fund was particularly favourable and strengthens our belief in the growth potential of real estate as an investment area. The fair value development of investments into CapMan's own funds fell below target in 2015 partially due to the depreciation in the CapMan Mezzanine IV fund.

Our focus areas for 2016 are the fair value development of our own fund portfolio, the utilisation of growth opportunities by for example raising new capital for real estate and credit funds, the growth of our service business and the acceleration of growth investments through our ownership in Norvestia. We proceed on our current strategic path with an objective to improve our earnings per share."   

Outlook for 2016

CapMan has updated its guidance policy. In line with the new policy, CapMan typically provides general descriptive statements related to the general outlook of its business and its sources of income in lieu of estimates. CapMan's full disclosure policy is available here: http://www.capman.com/capman-group/governance/disclosure.

The Management Company and Services business is profitable before carried interest income and any possible non-recurring expenses related to acquisitions or larger development projects. CapMan expects fees from services to continue growing and to constitute a larger share of overall fee income in 2016 compared to 2015.

A significant component contributing to CapMan's result is carried interest income. CapMan receives carried interest income from funds as a result of a completed exit in the event that the fund already is in carry or will enter carry due to the exit. The current portfolio holds several investments, which are in exit process, although the exact timing of such exits may fluctuate.  

The fair value development of CapMan's investments have a substantial impact on CapMan's overall result. The development of industries and local economies, Inflation development, valuation multiples of peer companies, exchange rates and various other factors outside of CapMan's control influence fair value development in addition to company and real estate specific development, and the fair value development of the overall portfolio depends on the interplay of these factors. For a future outlook on Norvestia, CapMan refers to the assessment published by Norvestia in its own reports. As a consequence, CapMan refrains from providing projections related to the fair value development of its investments.

Press and analyst conference today at 12.00 p.m. EET

Heikki Westerlund, CEO, will present the result for the financial year to press and analysts and review the market situation in a press conference to be held at 12.00 p.m. EET at CapMan's head office in Helsinki, address Korkeavuorenkatu 32, 00130 Helsinki. The press and analyst conference will be held in Finnish. The presentation material is available at CapMan Group's website or can be ordered either by phone +358 50 374 1267 or by email hanna.shkurov@capman.com after the event has begun. There is no webcast available. To join the conference, please register with linda.tierala@capman.com. Welcome!

Helsinki, 4 February 2016
CAPMAN PLC
Board of Directors

Further information:
Niko Haavisto, CFO, tel. +358 50 465 4125

Distribution:
NASDAQ Helsinki
Principal media
www.capman.com

CapMan www.capman.com
CapMan is one of the European leaders in the private equity industry. For more than 25 years, we have been developing companies and real estate and supporting their sustainable growth. We are committed to understanding the needs of our customers in an ever-changing market environment. Our objective is to provide attractive returns and innovative solutions for our investors and value adding services for professional investment partnerships, growth-oriented companies and tenants. Our independent investment partnerships - Buyout, Real Estate, Russia and Credit - as well as our associated company Norvestia are responsible for investment activities and value creation. CapMan's service business offering includes fundraising advisory services, purchasing activities and fund management services to both internal and external customers. CapMan has 100 private equity professionals and assets under management of €2.8 billion.