Northern VCTs - Magpie Music IPO?

[james188]

We had confirmation again at the online shareholder presentation last Thursday (worth looking at as and when it is posted on the Northern VCTs website) that one of the most successful current holdings in the portfolio - in fact, I think the most successful if the valuation is correct - is Music Magpie. It constitutes a large chunk of the portfolio.

In that context, there is an article in The Times today suggesting that the company is preparing to float with plans to be announced "within the next month". It is further stated that the indicative float value will be between £200 and £250 million, the top end of that range valuing the business at 19x earnings. Quite punchy.

There have been previous rumours of a float over the last few years so we will see what happens, but the information given is more detailed this time. If the float does go ahead, this will be a very decent result for the Northern VCTs/their shareholders, coming on top of the excellent Agilitas disposal last year. We live in hope.