Mercia Asset Management PLC Annual Report and Accounts 2024
Non-executive Chair’s statement continued
Responsible investing and culture
For Mercia, responsible investing with a clear purpose,
a positive company culture and strong teamwork have always
gone hand-in-hand. We always seek to invest to make a return
for our investors, but we also aim to do so in a manner which
treats with respect all of our stakeholders, and the environment
in which we operate. You will see examples of how we do this
throughout this Annual Report and in particular, on pages 6 and
7, how our Board considers the interests of our stakeholders
when complying with its obligations under Section 172 of the
Companies Act 2006.
One recent example of this culture and shared purpose was the
significant effort put into the BBB tenders by many staff across
all parts of our business. They worked tirelessly over many
months, often at unsociable hours. Their exceptional efforts, in
conjunction with the Group’s investment track record, resulted
in the BBB awarding our Group five new fund management
mandates totalling £360.0million. ‘Leaning in’ to help others,
be it internally or externally, is what defines a #OneMercia
employee. We are hugely grateful to the BBB for the vote of
confidence placed in us and we are really excited to have won
these new and significant regional equity and debt mandates
across the Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber. We have already
built new deal pipelines for all five mandates and completed
both equity and debt transactions.
The office working environment post COVID continues to
evolve and we are constantly looking at how best to combine
employee well-being and support with the collaboration, career
development and training that is vital in remaining a successful,
specialist alternative asset manager. We do this through
proactive engagement with our staff, whilst actively monitoring
trends across the asset management sector. In everything that
we do and say, we seek to be a valuable and well-respected
citizen in the many communities in which we are based and
whom we serve.
Looking forward
Finishing where I started, we continue to live in uncertain times.
Whilst the political and economic backdrop creates investment
returns uncertainty, it also creates opportunities for those
with the liquidity, local deal flow networks and investment
experience to make good equity investment and lending
decisions, whilst proactively managing and realising investment
returns from existing portfolios.
The Group’s future growth is likely to be driven by a structural
shift in investor allocations and Mercia, with its strong capital
base, regional presence and investment track record, is well
positioned to benefit from this emerging trend. Our profitable
SME lending operations have also now grown to FuM of
£687.0million, demonstrating our broader investment skills,
investor base and reach across the UK. Coupled with our
financial discipline and resilient capital and liquidity base,
Mercia is in a strong position to support initiatives such as the
Mansion House Compact, and we look forward to reporting
further progress in due course.
I remain immensely proud to be Chair and part of #OneMercia,
a community which works together every day to fulfil our
purpose, our investment mandates and our strategic objectives.
On behalf of our Board, I sincerely thank each and every person
connected with our Group for your continuing support.
Ian R Metcalfe OBE
Non-executive Chair
Natural
evolution continued