Pantheon International PLC (LON:PIN)
London flag London · Delayed Price · Currency is GBP · Price in GBX
382.50
-4.00 (-1.03%)
Oct 19, 2026, 1:31 PM GMT
← View all transcripts

Earnings Call: H1 2024

Feb 22, 2024

Helen Steers
Partner, Pantheon

Actively managed well-diversified portfolio gives shareholders access to the breadth of the private equity universe and to companies at different stages of growth. We believe that PIP's portfolio offers an attractive mix focusing on small and mid-market buyouts. Over the past few years, we have focused on investing directly into private companies alongside our managers. These are complemented by invitation-only, hard-to-access funds which do not typically trade on the secondary market. As of 30th November 2023, approximately 54% of PIP's portfolio was invested directly in companies through its exposure to co-investments and single-asset secondaries. As a result, PIP's portfolio has become more concentrated while still maintaining an appropriate level of diversification to mitigate risk. This increased exposure to direct company investments offers a number of benefits. First of all, stronger-performing individual assets have the potential to boost PIP's NAV over the long term.

Secondly, there is increased and improved transparency and visibility over the underlying assets. Overall, we have more control and can manage deployment pacing as we can select the individual deals. And finally, the investments go through a double-quality filter as both the private equity manager and the company must pass our stringent due diligence process.

Charlotte Morris
Partner, Pantheon

PIP's portfolio construction is shaped by the ethos of long-term stable growth and risk containment. The portfolio is leaning heavily towards stable and resilient industries such as information technology, healthcare, consumer staples and services. The underlying companies are characterized by high profit margin, good pricing power, and differentiated products and services, which give them distinctive advantages in their respective sectors. In terms of delivering long-term growth, we're proud to say that the last five years' average revenue growth and EBITDA growth for the PIP portfolio are 18% and 19%, respectively. On the risk containment, the PIP portfolio over the last 10 years has a loss ratio as low as 2.4%. I feel that those data speak volume about both the growth profile and the risk profile of PIP.

Helen Steers
Partner, Pantheon

During the half-year, PIP's NAV grew by 3.1%. This is stated net of fees. Apart from venture, which only accounts for 3% of PIP's portfolio, there was positive performance across all stages. PIP's objective is to maximize capital growth over the long term. PIP's NAV has outperformed the MSCI World and FTSE All-Share Indices over three, five, and 10 years. Since the company was launched in 1987. During the six months to the end of November, PIP's share price increased by 8.1%.

Charlotte Morris
Partner, Pantheon

We regularly stress-test PIP's balance sheet to make sure that it is able to withstand uncertainty while having the firepower to make new investments. In light of the challenging macroeconomic environment, exits and distributions were subdued during the half-year. Capital calls also declined, reflecting the general slowdown in M&A activity. As a result, PIP's portfolio continued to generate positive net cash flow, amounting to GBP 30 million during the period. At the end of November, PIP had net available cash of GBP 24 million and a GBP 500 million multicurrency revolving credit facility, of which GBP 365 million was undrawn as at the period end. PIP's financing cover, as at 30 November 2023, was 3.9 x, and the undrawn coverage ratio remained comfortable at 88%. As of 30 November 2023, PIP had GBP 121 million drawn under the loan facility and GBP 29 million outstanding on the asset-linked note.

Proceeds from the issuance of loan notes amounting to $150 million were used to repay existing drawings on the loan facility, resulting in additional liquidity capacity. Following the issuance of the notes and taken in conjunction with PIP's net available cash, PIP's net debt to NAV will be approximately 6%.

Helen Steers
Partner, Pantheon

The last two years have seen many macroeconomic changes and geopolitical events. As we stand today, some of those are on firmer footing, whereas others continue to have a lot of uncertainties ahead of us. We at PIP are here to create an all-season portfolio that withstands external changes and provides stable and safe performance. The last two years' events have created some of the most exciting opportunities we have seen, which we have captured. Going forward, we continue to see good opportunities set ahead of us from the market dislocation. Lastly, historical data has pointed out that downturns are associated with some of the best vintage years for private equity performance. We continue to be excited about the opportunity set ahead of us.

Private equity assets under management, globally, have been growing year on year and are forecasted to reach $8.5 trillion by 2028, representing an annualized growth rate of 10% between 2022 and 2028. Overall, we have cautious hope for the year ahead in terms of the broader external environment. We also have confidence in the strength and health of PIP's portfolio, which we have managed for over 36 years. We believe that it has the right ingredients to continue to achieve its aim of generating public-market-beating returns for shareholders over the long term.

If you have any questions or would like more information on PIP, please visit the website, follow PIP on LinkedIn, or contact the team here at Pantheon.