LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Venture capitalist Draper Esprit said on Thursday that it was "well positioned" to benefit from the Covid-19 pandemic given its exposure to cloud and automation technology firms.
Draper Esprit also said it remained on track to reach its targeted annual growth rate of 20% before the coronavirus outbreak and stated that despite the market backdrop, it had still managed to deliver strong growth.

Unaudited gross portfolio value was expected to be at least £695m, while net asset value per share was pegged to be no less than 550p.

However, the AIM-listed firm chose to lower growth forecasts for 2020 and 2021 as a result of several portfolio companies being negatively impacted by Covid-19 and its associated lockdowns.

Chief executive Martin Davis said: "Over the medium term, we believe the recovery from the pandemic will sharply accelerate the trends which Draper Esprit's portfolio businesses focus on. Transformations such as secure cloud infrastructure, remote financial services, online gaming and entertainment, and digital health, all stand to benefit from the societal shifts which the crisis has engendered.

"These dynamic businesses are weathering the current environment well and we are confident they will emerge stronger when economic activity normalises."

As of 1120 BST, Draper Esprit shares were up 2.93% at 454.94p.

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