Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2025

Oakley Capital Investments Limited ("OCI" or the "Company") today announces its half year trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2025. OCI is a listed investment company providing consistent, long-term returns in excess of the FTSE All-Share Index by investing in funds managed by Oakley Capital ("Oakley").

The Oakley Funds invest primarily in unquoted, profitable, pan-European businesses with recurring revenues, and across four core sectors: Technology, Education, Consumer and Business Services. Oakley's origination capabilities and proven value creation drivers help founders and management teams accelerate growth and produce consistently superior returns for investors.

Standout exit and earnings growth drive NAV return

• Proceeds: £6 million
• Total outstanding Oakley Fund commitments: £1,070 million, to be invested over the next five years
• Share buybacks: c.£21.4 million of shares repurchased and cancelled

Read more about OCI's KPIs here.

Portfolio highlights

• Average portfolio company organic LTM EBITDA growth of 13% (FY2024: 15%)
• Average portfolio company valuation multiple (EV/EBITDA) of 16.3x (FY2024: 16.4x)
• Average net debt/EBITDA ratio of 4.2x (FY2024: 4.1x)

See Glossary for full list of financial metrics and definitions here.

Portfolio overview

During a period of heightened macro volatility and geopolitical uncertainty, the portfolio maintained its track record of double-digit earnings growth, with a weighted average organic LTM EBITDA growth of 13%.

Performance was driven by healthy demand for mandatory, non-discretionary services such as Phenna’s TICC solutions, or for data and information services connected to the AI boom, such as TechInsights’ semiconductor analysis, as well as for private, early years and K12 education.

The underlying portfolio companies also benefitted from Oakley’s value creation, of which accretive M&A has been one of the principal drivers. 41 add-ons were completed during the period, including a transformational acquisition for I-TRACING that offers greater opportunity to scale across the US and Europe as demand for cyber services increases.

Read more about the portfolio's performance in the Interim Report here.

Investments

OCI completed look-through investments totalling £54 million, including:

• Venture investments - £9 million - investments made in portfolio companies within Oakley Touring Venture Fund and Oakley PROfounders Fund III including Wingspan and Blinq

Announced investments which are expected to complete post period-end include:

• G3 (Fund VI) - c.£18 million - a global strategic advisory company
• Brevo (Fund VI) - c.£22 million - Oakley granted exclusivity to invest in the leading global customer engagement software platform

Read more about OCI's new investments here.

Proceeds

OCI's look-through share of proceeds during the period totalled £6 million following the refinancing of Dexters. The sale of legaltech platform vLex to Clio was agreed in the period, in a transaction that values the business at $1 billion and is expected to complete in H2 2025. As part of the transaction, Origin is partially reinvesting in the combined business. OCI's look-through share of proceeds, excluding underlying look-through shares in Clio worth c.£40 million, is anticipated to be c.£30 million.

Read more about vLex here.

Direct investments

Direct investments are no longer part of OCI's ongoing strategy, and the Board is focused on maximising the value of its two direct investments, North Sails and Time Out.

North Sails, the most significant of OCI’s two legacy direct investments, delivered strong performance in the period and was one of the biggest drivers of NAV growth. North Sails has now integrated two highly synergistic strategic acquisitions in the sail making sector which have boosted North’s market position, as well as being immediately enhancing to returns.

Time Out’s Markets division has continued to grow, and has a strong pipeline of potential new openings, with the goal of doubling EBITDA over the coming two years. The Media division has continued to face turbulence, which acted as a drag on performance, resulting in group operating losses. A strategic review of this division is under way, which will inform OCI’s next steps to realise value.

Read more about OCI’s direct investments here.

Capital Allocation

Capital return: during the period the Board cancelled the dividend in favour of distributing capital via share buybacks. The dividend had remained at an unchanged and nominal level since its introduction in 2016 and the Board determined that shareholder returns would be better served by buybacks at material discounts to NAV rather than paying dividends at par. The final OCI dividend in respect of the 2024 financial year was therefore paid on 25 April 2025 and no dividends will be declared in respect of 2025. The annual buyback programme was initially launched for a minimum of £20 million and the 2025 buyback programme was subsequently increased to £50 million. Since the start of the year OCI has acquired and cancelled c.4.5 million shares for an aggregate c.£21.4 million as at 30 June 2025, generating a NAV per share gain of 6 pence during the period.

Commitments: over the longer term the Board remains committed to exposing shareholders to returns generated by Oakley Funds. During the period, OCI made a €500 million commitment to Oakley Capital Fund VI, taking the total outstanding commitments to the Oakley Funds to £1,070 million as at 30 June 2025, of which c.£300 million is not expected to be drawn. This is set to be deployed into new investments over the next five years.

Cash & credit facilities: OCI refinanced its credit arrangements in April, replacing the existing facility with a new five-year facility totalling £325 million, increasing the total size by £100 million. OCI's total liquidity as at the period end was £257 million, comprising £108 million of cash and £149 million in undrawn credit facilities.

See OCI's Balance Sheet in the Interim Report here. 

Admission to Main Market

The transfer of OCI's trading to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange as an Official List company was completed post period-end. The move represents one of the Company’s main initiatives to enhance its marketability, increase investor access to OCI shares and continue to deliver strong shareholder returns. The Company will become a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, effective from 22 September 2025.

Board changes

Following nine years of service, Caroline Foulger, the Company's Chair retired from the Board on 2 September. The succession process is well progressed including the recruitment of new independent non-executive directors. The Board has appointed Steve Pearce as Interim Chair.

Read the Chair's letter in the interim report here.