Molten Ventures plc
Molten Ventures plc (formerly Draper Esprit plc) is a listed venture capital investment company that invests in and develops high-growth, early-to-late-stage unquoted European technology businesses across consumer technology, enterprise technology, hardware & deeptech, and digital health sectors. As an IFRS 10 investment entity it holds its portfolio at fair value through profit or loss rather than consolidating investees, generating returns primarily from portfolio value appreciation and realisations, supplemented by management/performance fee income from managed EIS/VCT funds and a Fund of Funds programme. At 31 March 2026 its Gross Portfolio Value was £1,525m across 100+ companies, with a Core Portfolio of 17 companies representing 64% of value.
FY2026 in sixty seconds
year to 31 Mar 2026 · approved 9 Jun 2026 · 100 pages · FCA NSM
Molten Ventures plc invests in young European technology companies. In the year to 31 March 2026 its income from fees for managing other investment funds fell to £17.7m from £20.9m, but it made a profit after tax of £120.3m, against a loss of £800k the year before.
The profit came mainly from a £141.6m rise in the value of its investments, including gains from selling part of its stakes in Revolut and ICEYE. Day-to-day costs still exceeded fee income, though general running costs fell after a restructuring.
The company ended the year with £51.7m in cash and £119.6m of borrowings. It spent £38.0m buying back its own shares and paid no dividend, preferring to reinvest. The chairman said markets for selling investments "remain in recovery", while the chief executive said the company entered the new year "with momentum". The auditor gave a clean opinion and the directors raised no doubt about the company continuing, though they list economic volatility and US tariffs as the top risk.
Fair value movements on unquoted equity investments (capital appreciation of portfolio)
Movements on investments held at FVTPL of £141.6m (FY25: £22.7m), comprising unrealised gains £45.9m, realised gains £79.5m and FX gains £16.2m
page 75Operating cost discipline relative to NAV
Operating costs (net of fee income) were 0.5% of NAV, below the 1% target; general and administrative costs fell 11% year-on-year to £25m (FY25: £28m) driven by efficiency gains post restructuring
page 25Chairman: 'Exit markets remain in recovery... the Board takes confidence from the foundations established during FY26: a focused investment strategy, a strengthened team, and a capital allocation framework that has delivered meaningful NAV per share growth.'
page 6No dividend recommended for FY26 despite profit after tax of £120.3m (FY25: loss £1m); Directors' current intention is to reinvest income received from investee companies and net realisation proceeds in the Group's portfolio rather than distribute; capital returned to shareholders instead via share buybacks (£38m completed in FY26, £60m committed cumulatively since July 2024)
page 6511 years on one page · FY2016–FY2026
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GBP millions, negatives in brackets. Per-share lines in pence. Share counts in millions. Margins and returns as percentages, calculated from the filed figures. later is what a following report restated the figure to; vs is a second reading that disagrees. The figure shown is the one the original filing printed, and both readings are kept. Click any figure: opens the report page it was read from, highlighted; shows how it was calculated.
23 figures restated in a later report
Every figure is read again from the following year’s report: 314 confirmed, 12 differ, 23 restated.
No figure has been restated: every figure a later report printed again, it printed the same.
23 more figures were restated in FY2016 to FY2023, which a free account opens.