LIVERMORE INVESTMENTS GROUP LIMITED

UNAUDITED INTERIM RESULTS FOR SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2015

Livermore Investments Group Limited (the "Company" or "Livermore") today announces its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2015.

For further investor information please go to www.livermore-inv.com.

Enquiries:

Livermore Investments Group Limited                                                          +41 43 344 3200

Arden Partners plc                                                                                           +44 (0)20 7614 5917

Steve Douglas

Patrick Caulfield

Chairman's and Chief Executive's Review

Introduction

We are pleased to announce the interim consolidated financial results for Livermore Investments Group Limited (the "Company" or "Livermore") and its subsidiaries (together the "Group") for the six months ended 30 June 2015. 

During the first half of 2015, the Group generated net income of USD 1.96m (30 June 2014: USD 10.86m), which represents earnings per share of USD 0.01 (30 June 2014: USD 0.06). The Group paid an interim dividend of USD 5m in March 2015 (USD 0.0256 per share). The NAV of the Group as of 30 June 2015 was USD 0.81 per share after payment of the interim dividend. During the reporting period, management continued to actively manage the financial portfolio and optimized exposure to US credit markets, which continues to provide attractive risk adjusted returns, albeit at a lower rate than prior years.

Wyler Park, our investment property in Bern, Switzerland performed well, generating over CHF 2.7m in rent during the period. The property is fully rented. Valuation of Wyler Park has remained stable.

In September 2015, the lease with SBB for the Wyler Park property was extended from 2019 to 2029. As part of the lease extension agreement, the owner will invest up to a maximum of CHF 3.95m (USD 4.22m) and SBB is expected to invest up to CHF 9m to upgrade the property and allow for additional workspaces.

There were no significant developments in the private equity portfolio during the period.

Financial Review

The NAV of the Group as at 30 June 2015 was approximately USD 157.8m (30 June 2014: 168.2m). The profit after tax for the first half of 2015 was USD 1.96m, which represents earnings per share of USD 0.01. The performance relates largely to gains on the credit portfolio and net income from Wyler Park offset by write downs on certain investments.

Livermore's Strategy

The financial portfolio is focused on fixed income instruments which generate regular cash flows and include exposure mainly to senior secured and usually broadly syndicated US loans and to a limited extent emerging market debt through investments in CLOs. This part of the portfolio is geographically focused on the US with some exposure to Europe and emerging markets.  

The remaining portfolio is focused on Switzerland and Asia with investments primarily in real estate and select private equity opportunities.  Investments are focused on sectors that Management believes will provide superior growth over the mid to long term with relatively low downside risk. 

Strong emphasis is given to maintaining sufficient liquidity and low leverage at the overall portfolio level and to re-invest in existing and new investments along the economic cycle. 

Repurchase of shares

Between 31 December 2014 and 30 June 2015, the Company did not repurchase any additional shares. On 30 June 2015, the Company held 108,830,818 shares in treasury. Also no additional shares were purchased between 30 June 2015 and before the beginning of the interim closed period.

Dividends

In March 2015, the Company announced and paid an interim dividend of USD 5m (USD 0.0256 per ordinary share).

The Board of Directors will decide on the Company's dividend policy for 2015 based on profitability, liquidity requirements, portfolio performance, market conditions, and the share price of the Group relative to its NAV.

24 September 2015

REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES

Economic & Investment Environment

Global economic growth was weaker than expected in the first quarter of 2015. US GDP growth amounted to 0.6% and the Chinese economic growth continued to cool. In the Euro area, however, the economy continued to pick up, supported by persistent euro weakness and improved lending conditions on the back of the European Central Bank's (ECB) quantitative easing (QE) program. In Japan, too, the economy gained momentum. In the second quarter, however, US GDP grew by 3.7% as the West Coast port delays and the unusually harsh winter subsided. The Euro area grew by 0.5% in the second quarter whereas Japan GDP declined by 0.3%. Labour conditions continued to improve in the US with the unemployment rate falling to 5.3% in June 2015. Labour force participation rate, however, has remained at historic lows. With continued improvement in labour conditions, the Federal Reserve has indicated raising interest rates sometime this year, causing the US Dollar to appreciate versus other currencies. A stronger US Dollar, slowing economic growth in China, and excess supply has resulted in steep declines in commodity and energy prices, which along with modest wage growth is likely to keep inflation low in the near future.

In January 2015, the ECB announced an extensive QE program to purchase EUR 60bn of government bonds each month until at least September 2016. This resulted in the Euro declining from 1.21 against the US Dollar at the start of the year to 1.05 in March before recovering to 1.11 at the end of June 2015. By April 2015, the EuroStoxx 50 Index had shot up 21.5% from its level at the start of the year. Sovereign bond yields declined significantly with the German bonds yielding just 7.5bps at its lows. In anticipation of the QE program from the ECB and the resultant expected pressure on the Swiss Franc, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) removed the floor of 1.20 Swiss Francs per Euro in January and negative rates to deter safe haven flows into the currency. The Swiss Franc surged higher against most currencies after removal of the floor and closed at 1.042 Swiss Francs per Euro as at 30 June 2015 and Swiss government bond yields declined to yield negative rates across almost all maturities up to 10 years. While European equity markets were generally higher in the first half of the year, a stronger US Dollar and anticipation of increasing rates in the US kept the S&P 500 Index range bound.

Oil prices declined further in January with West Texas Intermediate Crude dropping from USD 58/barrel to USD 51.5/barrel but recovered to end up at USD 60.10/barrel as of 30 June 2015. Despite lower oil prices, supply increased as the OPEC nations produced more oil to retain market share and push leveraged oil producers out of the market. Concerns of a sharp slowdown in China further weighed on oil and commodity prices and prices have dropped further post the reporting period. Lower commodity and energy prices are expected to give a boost to consumers around the world, which may help increase economic growth. At the same time, however, cutbacks in investment spending related to energy and commodity production will likely limit the positive contribution from lower prices in the near term.

High yield and leveraged loans experienced higher volatility as the spectre of higher US interest rates and exposure to energy and commodity issuers dampened investor sentiment. At the same time, continued strong issuance of Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs) provided stability to the leveraged loan market. The S&P/LSTA Leveraged Loan Index generated a total return of 2.82% during the first half of the year as compared to a total return of 2.5% from the Bank of America US High Yield Index.

Sources: Swiss National Bank (SNB), European Central Bank (ECB), US Federal Reserve, Bloomberg

Review of Significant Investments

* Net of related loan.

Wyler Park - Switzerland

Wyler Park is a top quality mixed-use property located in Bern, Switzerland. It has over 16,800 square meters of commercial area, 4,100 square meters of residential area, and another 7,100 square meters available for additional commercial development. The commercial part is leased entirely to SBB (AAA rated), the Swiss national train transportation authority wholly owned by the Swiss Confederation, and serves as the headquarters of their Passenger Traffic division. The commercial lease is 100% linked to inflation. The annual rental income from the commercial area of the project is CHF 4.36m (USD 4.66m).

In September 2015, the lease with SBB for the Wyler Park property was extended from 2019 to 2029. As part of the lease extension agreement, the owner will invest up to a maximum of CHF 3.95m (USD 4.22m) and SBB is expected to invest up to CHF 9m (USD 9.62m) to upgrade the property and allow for additional workspaces.

Following the successful development of 39 residential apartments, the entire property is now fully rented. The annual rental income expected from the residential area is CHF 1.04m (USD 1.11m).

The property generated rent of CHF 2.7m (USD 2.9m) during the first half of 2015.

Livermore is the sole owner of Wyler Park through its wholly owned Swiss subsidiary, Livermore Investments AG. In January 2015, management successfully refinanced the previous loan against Wyler Park with a Swiss bank. The outstanding principal of the new loan facility is CHF 66.5m (USD 71.1m). The facility is committed until at least 30 June 2019. Following the lease extension agreement with SBB from 2019 to 2029, an additional CHF 10m (USD 10.69m) is available under this facility. The loan is a non-recourse loan to Livermore Investments AG backed only by this property.

Management continues to evaluate the potential development of the additional commercial development rights of 7,100 square meters attached to the property.

SRS Charminar - India

Livermore invested USD 20m in 2008 in a leading Indian Real Estate company, in association with SRS Private and other investors as part of a total investment of USD 132.1m. In 2009, the promoters of the investee company were arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and misappropriation of funds. Later it was discovered that the investee company had breached the terms of the investment agreement resulting in a default. On 13 January 2011 the Company Law Board ("CLB") passed an order and allowed Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited ("IL&FS") to become an 80% shareholder and control the management of the investee company. SRS Charminar and other investors have agreed to a settlement with IL&FS wherein the settlement amount will be paid in four tranches over five years.  

The carrying amount of the investment is based on discounted expected cash flows and as of period-end was USD 9.1m (December 2014: USD 9.1m). 

Private Equity Funds

The other private equity investments held by the Group are incorporated in the form of Managed Funds (mostly closed end funds) mainly in the emerging economies of India and China. The investments of these funds into their portfolio companies were mostly done in 2008 and 2009. Overall, during 2015 the investment environment relating to most funds was challenging and the Group expects that material exits of portfolio companies should materialize between 2016 and 2018. During the reporting period, Livermore received a distribution-in-kind from Evolution Fund in the form of shares of Whitesmoke Software Ltd, a company listed in Israel. Livermore received USD 0.049m from its investment in Blue Ridge fund, which is primarily liquidated.

The following summarizes the book value of the private equity funds as at 30 June 2015:

SRS Private: SRS Private is a private equity fund focused on real estate in India. The fund has invested in residential and commercial projects as well as directly in certain real estate companies. The assets are primarily located in and around major cities of India such as Mumbai and Hyderabad.

Evolution Venture:  Evolution is an Israel focused venture capital fund. It invests in early stage technology companies. Its investments include a carrier-class Mobile Broadband Wireless (MBW) Wi-Fi solutions company, Whitesmoke Software Ltd (a Tel-Aviv listed language enhancement products company), a software company operating in the digital radio market, a software test tool developer, and a virtualization technology company. The Wi-Fi solutions company, language enhancements product company and the virtualization technology company have been performing well. Livermore received a distribution-in-kind in the form of shares of Whitesmoke Software Ltd as a partial exit from the fund's position in Whitesmoke.

Elephant Capital: India-focused private equity fund, which is AIM quoted (Ticker: ECAP).  During the period, the fund sold its remaining holdings in Nitco Limited for GBP 0.16m and bought back 5,000,000 shares for GBP 1m.

As of 28 February 2015, the fund reported an audited NAV of 36 pence per share. Additional information about the fund and its portfolio is available at www.elephantcapital.com.

Panda Capital: Panda Capital is a China-based private equity fund focused on early-stage industrial operations in China. The fund's main investment is in a bamboo flooring company in China, which provides an innovative low cost alternative to hardwood flooring in shipping containers.  The manager is in the process of building up operational capacity for product manufacturing.

Da Vinci:  The fund is primarily focused on Russia and CIS countries and is primarily invested in the Moscow Exchange and a Ukrainian coal company. The Moscow Exchange continues to perform well in local currency terms. The coal company is located in Western Ukraine. The Group's investment in the fund was valued at USD 0.3m as of 30 June 2015.

Blue Ridge: Blue Ridge is a China focused private equity fund. The fund is mostly wound down and distributed USD 0.049m during the period.

India Blue Mountains: India Blue Mountains is a hotel and hospitality development fund that is developing 4 star and 5 star hotels in India. The fund has acquired land to develop three hotels in prime areas of Mumbai, Pune and Goa. All hotels will be managed by the Accor Group (Novotel brands). Accor has also invested equity and holds a 26% stake in all of the hotels. The Pune hotel is now operational but occupancy has been lower than expected.

During the reporting period, the fund reorganized itself into three separate companies holding the individual assets separately and raised capital to fund operations and interest costs. Livermore decided not to participate in the capital raise as it believes that asset values are not likely to be in excess of the debt load.

Financial Investments and Corporate Bond Trading

The Group manages a financial portfolio valued at USD 90.4m (net of leverage) as at 30 June 2015, which is invested mainly in US credit and fixed income securities.

Senior Secured Loans and CLOs:

The US senior secured loan market continued to offer good risk adjusted returns as a floating rate asset class with a senior secured claim on the borrower and with overall low volatility and low correlation to the equity market. CLOs are managed portfolios invested into diversified pools of senior secured loans and financed with long term financing pre-fixed at the time of issuance.

The US leveraged loan market performed reasonably well during the first half of the year with the Credit Suisse Leveraged Loan Index returning 2.9%, albeit with heightened volatility driven by broader markets, increased participation of retail and high yield funds, and a steady deterioration in energy and commodity prices. As at the end of June 2015, the US loan market twelve month rolling default rate by number of issuers was 0.81%. Livermore expects default rates to stay low in the near future although defaults rates from Oil, Gas and Coal related issuers are likely to underperform and push the default rate higher.

After a record level of US CLO new issue volume in 2014, CLO supply has continued to be strong in 2015. Despite mark-to-market volatility on CLO equity tranches, cash flows to the equity tranche have remained high and even increased as CLO managers take advantage of higher spread and lower loan prices available in the market.

During the first half of 2015 the Group continued to re-invest distributions from its CLO portfolio into new issue CLO transactions. The Group also provided first loss investments into credit facilities to secure and warehouse collateral for its upcoming CLO transactions.

The Group's US CLO portfolio continued to perform well on account of low current default rates, a low default outlook and wider loan spreads. At the end of the reporting period all of our US CLO investments were passing their coverage tests (thereby making dividend distributions). During the period, the CLO portfolio generated USD 11.99m in cash distributions, as well as earning USD 0.41m on warehousing facilities. Cash payments to CLO equity increased somewhat as CLO managers used volatility in the loan market to increase portfolio spreads. The Group has continued to reduce exposure to CLOs with shorter reinvestment periods and focus on new issue CLOs. As at 30 June 2015, over 85% of the Group CLO portfolio is invested in post-crisis CLOs.

Secondary market prices for CLOs fell further in January but rose higher until May as loan prices recovered along with oil prices. In June and subsequent months, however, secondary market prices have declined following a sharp fall in oil and commodity prices, re-emergence of the Greek debt crisis, a currency devaluation from China along with concerns around the first rate hike in the US. While the Group's US CLO portfolio performed better than market, its global and emerging market credit CLO portfolio was further impacted by deteriorating conditions in emerging markets. Management continues to monitor developments in this portfolio.

As few loans mature in the near term and the US economy continues to grow, corporate defaults are expected to remain low with the exception of certain energy related companies. Management believes that the environment should remain attractive for investments in CLO income notes.  In the first half of 2015, Livermore launched two new issue cash-flow CLOs as an anchor investor.

While management maintains a positive view on the CLO portfolio, mid-long term performance may be negatively impacted by a strong pull back in the US or European economy or geo-political events that could result in a spike in defaults.  Despite positive developments in the overall health of the US economy, we acknowledge the continued below trend growth globally especially in Europe, China and other emerging markets as well as headwinds relating to the potential monetary tightening in the US and geopolitical risks.

The following is a table summarizing the financial portfolio as at 30 June 2015

* this figure includes USD 11.3m which the Company invested during the period in the first loss tranche of warehouse facilities for accumulating loans with the intention to transfer these loans to a CLO.

The following table reconciles the review of activities to the Group's financial assets and investment property as at 30 June 2015.  

Events after the reporting date

Events after the reporting date are described in note 30 to the interim consolidated financial statements.

Litigation

Information is provided in note 28 to the interim condensed consolidated financial statements.

Livermore Investments Group Limited

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

as at 30 June 2015

Livermore Investment Group Limited

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

for the six months ended 30 June 2015

The total comprehensive income for the period is wholly attributable to the owners of the parent company.

Livermore Investments Group Limited

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

for the period ended 30 June 2015

Livermore Investments Group Limited

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

for the period ended 30 June 2015