FastForward Innovations Ltd / AIM: FFWD / Sector: Closed End Investments
8 January 2020
FastForward Innovations Ltd
("FastForward", "FFWD" or the "Company")
Disposal of Interest in Cryptologic for approximately C$1.5m
FastForward Innovations Ltd, the AIM listed closed ended investment fund with a focus on disruptive high growth technology and life sciences businesses, is pleased to announce that it has completed the sale of its entire holding of debentures in investee company Cryptologic Corp., formerly Vogogo Inc. ("Cryptologic").
Overview
· Sale of the Company's total holding of 2,300,000 debentures in Cryptologic (CNSX: CRY) at an average price of C$0.66 per debenture (the "Sale")
· Total realised cash proceeds from the Sale are C$1,514,476 (an equivalent of approximately £886,000 based on an indicative 0.585 exchange rate)
· In addition, the Company has received coupon payments / accrued interest totalling C$257,075 (an equivalent of approximately £150,300 on an indicative 0.585 exchange rate) over the holding period
· The purchase price of each debenture on investment in June 2018 was C$1.00, a total cost of C$2.3 million (£1.3 million)
· As indicated in the results to 31 March 2019, FFWD carried the debentures at a significantly impaired valuation of C$863,000 (£494,000), following the poor performance of Cryptologic (attributed to the decline of the BitCoin price in late 2018 / early 2019 and a loss of attraction in the Cryptocurrency space generally). This impairment methodology was carried through the interim valuation provided in September 2019
· Therefore, the Sale proceeds and coupon payments received since March 2019 represent a total gain of C$809,000 (94%) over the March 2019 NAV, but a total loss on investment of C$528,450 (23%) over the entire holding period, excluding foreign exchange movements
· The Sale is in line with the Company's strategy to focus investments specifically in the life science, health and technology arenas
As per the announcements dated 6 August 2019, 12 August 2019 and 26 September 2019, Cryptologic, a Canadian listed company currently involved in cryptocurrency mining, is seeking to pivot into the Canadian Cannabis Industry by way of a proposed acquisition of assets from the Wayland Group and the sale of its Bitcoin mining business. The proposed resultant business of Cryptologic is not in line with FastForward's investment mandate and would have precluded the Company's continued involvement due to UK regulatory constraints. FastForward has therefore been looking at opportunities to realise its investment in Cryptologic in line with its evolved strategy to focus investments more specifically in the life science, health and technology arenas, and the sale of its entire holding of debentures in Cryptologic is reflective of this. The Company will deploy the proceeds of the sale in line with this strategy.
Ed McDermott, Director of FastForward, commented: "We have been looking for opportunities to dispose of our interest in Cryptologic since the announcement that it would be considering the acquisition of Wayland and I am therefore delighted to have completed the sale in a timely manner. Whilst we have made a loss over the holding period, given the difficult trading conditions with serious impacts on profitability due to considerable fluctuations in the BitCoin price, we are pleased to have exited in the position that we have."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 596/2014.
* ENDS*
For further information on the Company please visit www.fstfwd.co or contact:
Ed McDermott Lance de Jersey |
FastForward Innovations Ltd |
Email: info@fstfwd.co
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James Biddle Roland Cornish |
Beaumont Cornish Limited Nomad
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Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 3396
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Jeremy Dickson |
Optiva Securities Limited Broker
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Tel: +44 (0) 203 411 1881
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Beth Melluish / Isabel de Salis |
St Brides Partners Ltd Financial PR
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Tel: +44 (0)20 7236 1177 |