Artificial Intelligence

Correction: Half-year report and dividend declaration

Published

3 years ago

September 30, 2021

GlobeNewswire

The dividend record date has been corrected to say 3 December 2021. All other information provided is correct.

Octopus Titan VCT plc (“Titan” and “the Company”)

Unaudited half-yearly report for the six months ended 30 June 2021

Company number: 06397765

Today the Company announces the half-yearly results for the six month period to 30 June 2021 as below.

These results were approved by the Board of Directors on 28 September 2021.

You may view the Half-yearly Report in full at octopustitanvct.com shortly. All other statutory information will also be found there.

Octopus Titan VCT plc is a venture capital trust (‘VCT’) which aims to provide shareholders with attractive tax-free dividends and long-term capital growth by investing in a diverse portfolio of predominantly unquoted companies. The Company is managed by Octopus Investments Limited (‘Octopus’ or ‘Portfolio Manager’) and Octopus AIF Management Limited (the ‘Manager’).

Financial Summary

	Six months to 30 June 2021	Six months to 30 June 2020	Year to 31 December 2020
Net assets (£’000s)	1,275,105	906,218	1,043,235
(Loss)/profit after tax (£’000s)	218,580	(26,016)	75,323
NAV	113.9p	89.5 p	97.0p
Cumulative dividends paid since launch	84.0p	79.0p	81.0p
Total Value	197.9p	168.5p	178.0p
Total Return*	19.9p	(2.7)p	6.8p
Total Return %**	20.5%	(2.8)%	7.1%
Dividends paid in the period	3.0p	3.0p	5.0p
Dividends declared in respect of the period***	8.0p	2.0p	3.0p

^*Calculated as the change in NAV in the period plus dividends paid in the period.

^**Calculated as total return/opening NAV.

^***This includes an interim dividend of 2.0p per share supplemented by a special dividend of 6.0p per share, and will be paid on 20 December 2021 to shareholders on the register as at 3 December 2021.

Chairman’s Statement

I am pleased to present the unaudited half-yearly report for Octopus Titan VCT (‘Titan’) for the six months ended 30 June 2021.

The Net Asset Value (‘NAV’) at 30 June 2021 was 113.9p which, adjusting for dividends paid, represents a 19.9p (20.5%) increase from 31 December 2020 and a 8.4p (8.0%) increase since the last released NAV on 23 April 2021. The Total Value (NAV plus cumulative dividends paid per share since launch) at the end of the period was 197.9p (31 December 2020: 178.0p). The tax-free annual compound return for the original shareholders since Titan’s launch in October 2007 is now 5.8%.

Despite the challenges in the macro environment, we were pleased to raise £120 million in our most recent fundraise which closed on 3 March 2021, and, on 18 June 2021, we announced our intention to launch a new offer in the near future. As of 30 June 2021, we have uninvested cash reserves of £220 million to allow us to support our existing portfolio of more than 90 companies, as well as make new investments into early-stage, high growth businesses which we believe embody the objectives of the VCT scheme.

In the six months to 30 June 2021, we have utilised £125 million of our cash resources, comprising £52 million in new and follow-on investments, £25 million in dividends, £16 million in share buybacks and £32 million in investment management fees and other running costs (of which £18 million was the 2020 performance incentive fee). Together, this utilised 53% of our cash and cash equivalents at 31 December 2020.

Investment Portfolio Review

I am pleased to report a net uplift in the value of the portfolio of £286 million since 31 December 2020, excluding additions and disposals, representing a 35% return on the value of the portfolio at the start of the year. Octopus and the Board engaged our auditors, BDO, to undertake a review of the valuations of the largest 25 holdings by value, similar to the review process conducted across the entire portfolio at the previous year end, and we have considered their comments in determining the NAV at 30 June 2021. We set out below the cost and valuation of the top ten holdings which account for over 55% of the value of the portfolio.

Investments	Investment cost at 30 June 2021^* (£’000)	Valuation at 30 June 2021 (£’000)
Bought By Many Limited	9,978	126,960
Cazoo Limited	5,000	121,991
DePop Limited	8,766	97,361
Amplience Limited	13,634	59,956
Permutive Inc.	11,839	43,152
Chronext AG	7,708	32,157
Digital Therapeutics	6,494	22,754
Chiaro Technology Limited	6,417	22,062
Big Health Limited	10,571	20,775
Elliptic Enterprises Limited	4,913	19,710
Total	85,320	566,878

^*In the case of Amplience, it reflects the amount invested from Titan’s 1-5 before the 2014 merger and from Titan after the merger. This is different to the book cost which includes the holding gains and losses on assets which transferred from Titans 1, 3, 4 and 5 to Titan 2 (now Titan) during the merger, as Titan received these assets at fair value.

During the six months, the uplift in valuation has been driven by the strength of performance of a number of companies in the portfolio, including in particular, Bought By Many, Cazoo, Chronext, Depop, Permutive and WaveOptics. Collectively, 40 investee companies drove an uplift of £323 million, including valuation uplifts on companies disposed of in the period. Many of our portfolio companies have made great progress over this period and hit exciting milestones, including launching new partnerships, entering new markets and rolling out new products. For example, Bought By Many raised $350 million of additional funding at a valuation of $2 billion in June, and (post period end) Cazoo listed on the New York Stock Exchange in August, valuing the group at $8 billion, both incredible achievements. Titan first invested in Cazoo in November 2018 and the value of our holding has increased by more than 24 times based on the value of the business upon its listing in August.

Titan has also benefitted from an impressive number of exits during the period including: Skew being sold to Coinbase Global Inc. in April; the acquisition of WaveOptics by Snap Inc. for over $500 million in May; and in June Depop announced its acquisition by Etsy for $1.625 billion (which completed in July) and Semafone was majority acquired by Livingbridge enabling Titan to realise its investment, also completing in July. Collectively, these companies received investment of £31 million from Titan and the combined realised consideration totalled £207 million (in cash, shares and/or deferred amounts), with some further details on each below:

WaveOptics: Titan first invested in WaveOptics in December 2015 and then further in 2017 and 2018 to support the company’s design and development of a set of components for use in Augmented Reality (AR) glasses that allow for the creation of AR displays. Its acquisition by Snap Inc, best known for its mobile application Snapchat, represented one of the UK’s largest ever deep tech acquisitions in history;
Depop: Etsy, the e-commerce company focussing on handmade and vintage items, acquired Depop, a mobile-first marketplace connecting those looking to buy and sell streetwear, for $1.625 billion to enhance its offering as the resale home for Gen Z consumers. Titan first invested in Depop in January 2018 and further invested in 2019;
Skew: Titan invested in Skew, which has built a data and trading platform to help financial institutions participate in the crypto market, in 2020 and it was acquired by Coinbase Global Inc., an early client; and
Semafone: The leading provider of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard compliance solutions for payment and data security for call and contact centres, first received investment from Titan in 2010 and undertook a number of further funding rounds. Titan’s investment was realised through the company’s transaction with Livingbridge at a valuation equal to 8.5x our initial investment price. Post period end, we also saw the exit of Conversocial to Verint Systems Inc. for $50 million in August.

Conversely, as is to be expected when investing in early-stage companies, 31 companies saw a collective decrease in valuation of £37 million. The significant contributors were Trouva, Dead Happy, Property Partner, Stackin and Streetbees where trading performance has been more challenging for various reasons, including, in some cases, the sector being affected by the Coronavirus pandemic and/or adapting to Brexit legislation changes. 12 of these 31 companies saw a reduction in value of 5% or less, typically due to fluctuations in the FX rates or net cash levels in the companies. Octopus believes that a number of these businesses have the potential to overcome the issues they face and return to their ambitious growth plans and continues to work with these companies to help them achieve their ambitions. Where appropriate, this will include providing further funding to ensure the business has sufficient capital to execute on its strategy.

Unfortunately, having been unsuccessful in securing further funding and having explored and exhausted all other options, Systum Inc. was placed into liquidation in the period. Slightly out of the reporting period, Titan also realised its investments in Mush, through a sale to Mumsnet, and Property Partner was acquired by Better HoldCo Inc. both at a loss, but these transactions will allow the businesses to continue and potentially thrive under new corporate ownership. The disposal value of these holdings was reflected in the period end valuations. While it is disappointing to see unprofitable realisations in the portfolio, we continue to expect some such losses when making investments into early stage, high risk, but potentially high growth businesses and remain confident that the high performers in the portfolio should outweigh the failures.

Turning to investments made during the six months to 30 June 2021, £46.5 million was invested into 10 new companies and £5.9 million was invested in seven follow-on investments into existing portfolio companies. At the year end, the portfolio comprised 91 technology or tech-enabled companies, across the five investment focussed pods.

We have been pleased to welcome the following companies to the portfolio during the period:

Avione, which aims to help retail investors create wealth by giving them the ability to invest into a leveraged long-term portfolio of public equities;
CoMind, which is building the next generation non-invasive Brain Computer Interface;
Ibex, which has developed a clinical-grade, artificial intelligence-based solution for rapid, accurate, and objective cancer diagnostics and analysis in histopathology (the microscopic study of tissue with the aim of informing a medical diagnosis);
iSize, a software platform to optimise video quality while substantially reducing the video size and therefore bandwidth making it cheaper and quicker to transmit;
Legl, a cloud platform offering an operating system for legal businesses;
Overture, which is developing a suite of products to improve and automate key parts of assisted reproductive technology, which refers to medical procedures used primarily to address infertility;
Raylo, a subscription-based business for new and refurbished electronic devices, offering insurance and upgrades through the same subscription;
Sprout.ai, which offers insurers a claims automation and fraud filtering software system;
Taster, a family of delivery-only restaurant brands bringing unique street foods to European consumers; and
XYZ Reality, a cloud-based engineering-grade augmented reality software platform and hardware for the construction industry.

Furthermore, since 30 June 2021, eleven new and six follow-on investments have been completed, amounting to £29.5 million. The new investments were into:

Anansi, delivers automated insurance products for ecommerce businesses;
Collectv, a fresh food end-to-end supply chain business connecting food-service operators directly with produce suppliers;
Nanosyrinx, which has used synthetic biology principles to develop a targeted biologic therapeutic delivery platform, opening a new range of targets for drug development;
Walking on Earth, which is building a holistic health platform for the workforce;
Integrated Finance, which helps fintech companies connect various parts of their financial services stack through a single integration;
Mojo Men, a sexual wellbeing platform for men;
Commazero, an open banking bulk payment system;
Pngme, which is aiming to be the source of data to build a complete consumer financial profile for banks, fintechs, and credit bureaus;
Troglo, a digital clinic to address some of the most important and underserved areas for health and wellbeing in the LGBTQIA+ community;
Hapi, which is aiming to empower every family to build financial freedom for their children and transfer wealth to the next generation in the most seamless, tax efficient manner possible; and
Imophoron is building a novel vaccine development platform to make vaccines that are stable at temperatures of up to 50°C, tackling the cold-chain problem in the vaccines industry.

Dividends

As shareholders will know, our ambition is to pay an annual dividend of 5.0p per share, supplemented by special dividends when justified through particularly profitable realisations. Following careful consideration, I am pleased to confirm that your Board has now decided to declare an interim dividend of 2.0p (2020 2.0p) per share supplemented by a special dividend of 6.0p per share in respect of the current financial year, which will be paid on 20 December 2021 to shareholders on the register as at 3 December 2021. This represents a tax-free yield of 8% on the opening NAV. The announcement of the payment of a special dividend is a demonstration of the extraordinary performance of some of the portfolio companies and the successful exits which have completed over the period.

If you are one of the 27% of shareholders who take advantage of the Dividend Reinvestment Scheme (DRIS), your dividend will be receivable in Titan shares. This is an excellent way for those of you who prefer the capital value of your investment to grow to achieve your investment objectives.

As shareholders will be aware, since inception, we have paid 84p in dividends per share, excluding the interim and special dividends mentioned above. After undertaking a review of outstanding dividends, it has shown that there is a significant sum of unclaimed dividends. As such, if shareholders are in any doubt whether they have received all dividends due to them, they should visit the Computershare Investor Centre at: www.investorcentre.co.uk. Here you will also be able to view your full dividend history, download dividend confirmations for each dividend paid after 2017, download any income tax certificates (from both dividends and allotments after 2017), view your current dividend preferences and add your bank mandate details if you have not done so already. Alternatively, you can contact Computershare by calling 0370 703 6324.

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

The Board continues to regularly review the risk environment in which Titan operates. There have been no significant changes to the key risks which are fully described on pages 22 to 24 of the Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2020. The Board does not anticipate there will be significant changes to these risks.

VCT Qualifying Status

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) provides both the Board and Octopus with advice concerning ongoing compliance with HMRC rules and regulations concerning VCTs and have advised that Titan continues to be in compliance with the conditions laid down by HMRC for maintaining approval as a VCT.

As at 30 June 2021, over 92% of the portfolio (as measured by HMRC rules) was invested in VCT-qualifying investments, significantly above the 80% current VCT-qualifying threshold.

Outlook

I am pleased to be able to announce such an impressive uplift in NAV over the last six months, as well as the payment of a special dividend. This is a credit to both the investment team’s experience and the portfolio’s resilience and ability to adapt in rapidly changing circumstances. The Coronavirus pandemic has created an extremely challenging environment, especially in certain sectors such as travel, retail and leisure; however, it has also offered opportunities. This can be seen with the number and range of exciting new investments made, as well as the remarkable array of realisations successfully completed over the past six months, as companies look to enhance their technology offerings, enter new markets or seek better ways to work and do business. As already announced, we intend to issue a prospectus to raise further funds and details are expected to be announced later in the Autumn.

Our most recent fundraising offer, and the completion of the aforementioned successful exits, mean that we have £220 million in cash and cash equivalents as at 30 June 2021. This will allow us to move towards our target for all cash outlays, excluding investments, to be funded by realisations, as well as to continue to support the most promising companies in our portfolio and back the people, ideas and industries that will change the world. To support this ambitious goal, Octopus has increased the investment and operational support team to ensure it continues to be able to make new investments and manage the expanding portfolio appropriately.

As described in the annual report to December 2020, when investing into new companies and some of those already in the portfolio, it was to be expected that Titan would invest along with funds from Octopus’ new Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) service, Octopus Ventures EIS, launched in Autumn 2020. In March 2021, the first such co-investment was completed, and as at 30 June 2021, 6 of these co-investments have been made in total, all of which have been into new companies to the portfolio. As a reminder, Titan will retain its pre-emption rights, including rights of first refusal, on all existing holdings. We are pleased with how Octopus is managing this process in accordance with the allocation policy which has been agreed with the Board.

One of the challenges the team faces is the competitive nature of the investment market, as more Venture Capital firms look to enter the early-stage space. New businesses with exceptional management teams and leading technologies regularly receive multiple offers of investment. The pod structure that Octopus has in place, allowing team members to be experts in their specific area of focus, as well as the additional value the Portfolio Talent team can offer to entrepreneurs, puts Octopus in a strong position to be able to stand out in such a competitive market. The diversity and volume of exciting new deals completed in the last six months and the upcoming pipeline of investment opportunities is testament to the work the investment team continues to put into sourcing, securing and working with such business successfully. VCTs have long provided a compelling opportunity for UK investors to provide funding for such businesses in a tax-efficient way, and we look forward to Titan continuing to do so in the coming year.

I would like to conclude by thanking both the Board and the Octopus team on behalf of all shareholders for their hard work, without which our fund would not continue to achieve such performance.

John Hustler
Chairman
28 September 2021

Investment Portfolio

Investments	Pod	Investment cost at 30 June 2021^* (£’000)	Amount invested in the six months ending 30 June 2021 (£’000)
Amplience Limited	B2B Software	13,634	–
LHE Holdings Limited (trading as Property Partner)	Fintech	13,600	–
Permutive Inc.	B2B Software	11,839	–
Sofar Sounds Limited	Consumer	11,400	482
Smartkem Limited	Deep tech	10,753	–
Big Health Limited	Health	10,571	–
PLU&M limited	Consumer	10,500	–
Streethub Limited (trading as Trouva)	Consumer	10,363	–
Bought By Many Limited	Fintech	9,978	–
Digital Shadows Ltd	B2B Software	9,702	–
Uniplaces Limited	Consumer	9,491	188
Zenith Holding Company Limited^**	Consumer	8,963	–
Ometria Limited	B2B Software	8,800	–
DePop Limited	Consumer	8,766	–
Appear Here Limited	Consumer	8,509	–
XYZ Reality Limited	Consumer	8,500	8,500
Token.IO Ltd	Fintech	8,422	–
CurrencyFair Limited	Fintech	8,381	–
Antidote Technologies Ltd	Health	8,251	–
Seatfrog UK Holdings Limited	Consumer	7,800	–
Chronext AG	Consumer	7,708	–
Iovox Limited	B2B Software	7,206	–
Ibex Medical Analytics	Health	7,148	7,148
Surrey NanoSystems Limited	Deep tech	6,918	–
Stackin Inc	Fintech	6,840	–
By Miles Limited	Fintech	6,732	–
Allplants Limited	Consumer	6,650	–
Digital Therapeutics (trading as Quit Genius)	Health	6,494	–
Chiaro Technology Limited (trading as Elvie)	Health	6,417	–
Context-Based 4Casting (C-B4) Ltd	B2B Software	6,096	–
Casual Speakers Limited (trading as Jolt)	Consumer	6,069	1,300
Conversocial Limited	B2B Software	6,064	–
Phoelex Ltd	Deep tech	6,025	–
Sprout.ai Limited	Fintech	6,000	6,000
Origami Energy Limited	Deep tech	5,947	414
Overture Life, Inc	Health	5,813	5,813
Picsoneye Segmentation Innovation Limited (trading as Pixoneye)	Deep tech	5,808	–
Artesian Solutions Limited	B2B Software	5,481	–
Memrise Inc	Consumer	5,144	–
Cazoo Limited	Consumer	5,000	–
Vitesse PSP Ltd	Fintech	5,000	2,321
Elliptic Enterprises Limited	Fintech	4,913	–
OpenSignal Inc	B2B Software	4,862	–
Michelson Diagnostics Limited	Health	4,795	–
Impatients N.V. (trading as MyTomorrows)	Health	4,705	–
Orbital Express Launch Limited	Deep tech	4,550	–
Olio Exchange Limited	Consumer	4,500	–
ThoughtRiver Limited	Deep tech	4,500	–
Raylo Group Limited	Fintech	4,500	4,500
The Faction Collective SA	Consumer	4,461	–
We Farm	Consumer	4,350	–
Secret Escapes Limited	Consumer	4,256	–
Behaviometrics AB	Deep tech	4,229	–
Patch Gardens Limited	Consumer	4,172	–
Eve Sleep Plc	Consumer	4,151	–
Mr & Mrs Oliver Ltd (trading as Skin+Me)	Health	4,000	–
The Justice Platform Inc (trading as Legl)	B2B Software	4,000	4,000
AudioTelligence Limited	Deep tech	4,000	–
Positron Technologies Limited	Fintech	4,000	–
vHive Tech Ltd	Deep tech	3,996	–
Glofox	B2B Software	3,812	–
Altitude Angel Ltd	Deep tech	3,800	–
Dead Happy Limited	Fintech	3,700	–
AllTaster Limited t/a Taster	Consumer	3,684	3,684
Medisafe Project Limited	Health	3,664	–
CoMind Technologies Limited	Deep tech	3,375	3,375
Dogtooth Technologies Limited	Deep tech	3,278	–
Anikin Ltd	Consumer	3,000	–
Whirli Limited	Consumer	3,000	–
Unmade Ltd	Deep tech	3,000	–
Trafi Limited	Deep tech	2,965	–
Ecrebo Limited	B2B Software	2,857	–
Metrasens Limited	Deep tech	2,819	–
Mosaic Smart Data Limited	Fintech	2,780	–
iSize Limited	Deep tech	2,625	2,625
Slamcore Limited	Deep tech	2,550	–
CRED Investment Holdings Limited	Fintech	2,500	500
Inrupt Inc.	Fintech	2,372	–
Fluidly Limited	B2B Software	2,299	–
Streetbees.com Limited	B2B Software	2,086	–
Uniq Health Limited	Health	1,900	–
Ori Biotech	Health	1,548	–
Thirdeye Labs Limited	Deep tech	1,500	–
Quantum Motion Technologies Limited	Deep tech	1,498	–
Segura Systems Limited	B2B Software	1,470	–
Aire Labs Limited	Fintech	1,332	–
Intrepid Owls Limited (trading as Rest-Less)	Fintech	1,285	735
Multiply AI Limited	Fintech	1,283	–
Avione Saving & Investment Ltd	Fintech	850	850
Minimum Corporation	Fintech	759	–
M10	Fintech	626	–
Excession Technologies Limited	Deep tech	298	–
Total		486,238	52,435

^*Investment cost reflects the amount invested into each investee company from Titan’s 1 – 5 before the 2014 merger and from Titan after the merger. This is different to the book cost which includes the holding gains and losses on assets which transferred from Titan’s 1, 3, 4 & 5 to Titan 2 (now Titan) during the merger, as Titan purchased these assets at fair value.

^**Owns stake in Secret Escapes Limited.

Income Statement

	Unaudited Six months to 30 June 2021			Unaudited Six months to 30 June 2020			Audited Year to 31 December 2020
	Revenue £’000	Capital £’000	Total £’000	Revenue £’000	Capital £’000	Total £’000	Revenue £’000	Capital £’000	Total £’000
Gains/(losses) on disposal of fixed asset investments	–	34,475	34,475	–	(672)	(672)	–	3,783	3,783
Gains on disposal of current asset investments	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Gains/(losses) on valuation of fixed asset investments	–	251,697	251,697	–	(15,680)	(15,680)	–	104,930	104,930
(Losses)/gains on valuation of current asset investments	–	(57)	(57)	–	(66)	(66)	–	4,352	4,352
Investment income	504	–	504	274	–	274	843	–	843
Investment management fees	(474)	(9,007)	(9,481)	(381)	(7,230)	(7,611)	(764)	(14,508)	(15,272)
Performance fee	–	(55,632)	(55,632)	–	–	–	–	(18,402)	(18,402)
Other expenses	(2,991)	–	(2,991)	(2,418)	–	(2,418)	(5,070)	–	(5,070)
FX translation	–	65	65	–	157	157	–	159	159
(Loss)/profit before tax	(2,961)	221,541	218,580	(2,525)	(23,491)	(26,016)	(4,991)	80,314	75,323
Tax	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
(Loss)/profit after tax	(2,961)	221,541	218,580	(2,525)	(23,491)	(26,016)	(4,991)	80,314	75,323
(Loss)/earnings per share – basic and diluted	(0.3)p	20.2p	19.9p	(0.3)p	(2.4)p	(2.7)p	(0.5)p	8.3p	7.8p

· The ‘Total’ column of this statement is the profit and loss account of the Company; the supplementary revenue return and capital return columns have been prepared under guidance published by the Association of Investment Companies.

· All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing operations.

· The Company has only one class of business and derives its income from investments made in shares and securities and from bank and money market funds.

Titan has no other comprehensive income for the period.

Balance Sheet

	Unaudited As at 30 June 2021		Unaudited As at 30 June 2020		Audited As at 31 December 2020
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Fixed asset investments		1,024,358		663,587		820,699
Current assets:
Corporate bonds	91,385		86,456		89,882
Cash at bank	40,822		4,105		9,348
Applications cash^*	363		26		3,613
Debtors	87,129		5,839		6,178
Money market funds	88,125		147,114		137,170
	307,824		243,540		246,191
Current liabilities	(57,077)		(909)		(23,655)
Net current assets		250,747		242,631		222,536

Net assets		1,275,105		906,218		1,043,235

Share capital		111,925		101,272		107,502
Share premium		621,152		616,952		564,308
Special distributable reserve		100,392		69,413		150,007
Capital redemption reserve		8,015		4,879		6,377
Capital reserve realised		(44,689)		(47,811)		(66,167)
Capital reserve unrealised		509,704		187,547		309,706
Revenue reserve		(31,394)		(26,034)		(28,498)
Total equity shareholders’ funds		1,275,105		906,218		1,043,235
Net asset value per share		113.9p		89.5p		97.0p

^*Cash held but not yet allotted.

The statements were approved by the Directors and authorised for issue on 28 September 2021 and are signed on their behalf by:

John Hustler
Chairman

Statement of Changes in Equity

	Share capital £’000	Share premium £’000	Capital redemption reserve £’000	Special distributable reserve^* £’000	Capital reserve realised^* £’000	Capital reserve unrealised £’000	Revenue reserve^* £’000	Total £’000
As at 1 January 2021	107,502	564,308	6,377	150,007	(66,167)	309,706	(28,498)	1,043,235
Comprehensive income for the period:
Management fees allocated as capital expenditure	–	–	–	–	(9,007)	–	–	(9,007)
Current year gain on disposal of fixed asset investments	–	–	–	–	34,475	–	–	34,475
Current year gains on disposal of current asset investments	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Gains on fair value of fixed asset investments	–	–	–	–	–	251,697	–	251,697
Losses on fair value of current asset investments	–	–	–	–	–	(57)	–	(57)
Loss after tax	–	–	–	–	–	–	(2,961)	(2,961)
Performance fee	–	–	–	–	(55,632)	–	–	(55,632)
Total comprehensive income for the period	–	–	–	–	(30,164)	251,640	(2,961)	218,515
Contributions by and distributions to owners:
Share issue (includes DRIS)^**	6,061	56,844	–	–	–	–	–	62,905
Repurchase of own shares	(1,638)	–	1,638	(15,986)	–	–	–	(15,986)
Dividends paid (includes DRIS)	–	–	–	(33,629)	–	–	–	(33,629)
Total contributions by and distributions to owners	4,423	56,844	1,638	(49,615)	–	–	–	13,290
Other movements:
Prior year fixed asset gains now realised	–	–	–	–	51,642	(51,642)	–	–
FX translation	–	–	–	–	–	–	65	65
Total other movements	–	–	–	–	51,642	(51,642)	65	65
Balance as at 30 June 2021	111,925	621,152	8,015	100,392	(44,689)	509,704	(31,394)	1,275,105

^*Reserves available for distribution.

^**This is net of allotment fees of £1.7 million.

	Share capital £’000	Share premium £’000	Capital redemption reserve £’000	Special distributable reserve^* £’000	Capital reserve realised^* £’000	Capital reserve unrealised £’000	Revenue reserve^* £’000	Total £’000
As at 1 January 2020	95,161	559,972	4,074	106,915	(45,705)	209,089	(23,666)	905,840
Comprehensive income for the period:
Management fees allocated as capital expenditure	–	–	–	–	(7,230)	–	–	(7,230)
Current year gain on disposal of fixed asset investments	–	–	–	–	(672)	–	–	(672)
Losses on fair value of fixed asset investments	–	–	–	–	–	(15,680)	–	(15,680)
Losses on fair value of current asset investments	–	–	–	–	–	(66)	–	(66)
Loss after tax	–	–	–	–	–	–	(2,525)	(2,525)
Total comprehensive loss for the period	–	–	–	–	(7,902)	(15,746)	(2,525)	(26,173)
Contributions by and distributions to owners:
Share issue^**	6,916	56,980	–	–	–	–	–	63,896
Repurchase of own shares	(805)	–	805	(7,008)	–	–	–	(7,008)
Dividends paid	–	–	–	(30,494)	–	–	–	(30,494)
Total contributions by and distributions to owners	6,111	56,980	805	(37,502)	–	–	–	26,394
Other movements:
Prior year fixed asset gains now realised	–	–	–	–	5,796	(5,796)	–	–
FX translation	–	–	–	–	–	–	157	157
Total other movements	–	–	–	–	5,796	(5,796)	157	157
Balance as at 30 June 2020	101,272	616,952	4,879	69,413	(47,811)	187,547	(26,034)	906,218

^*Reserves available for distribution.

^**This is net of allotment fees of £9.9 million.

	Share capital £’000	Share premium £’000	Capital redemption reserve £’000	Special distributable reserve^* £’000	Capital reserve realised^* £’000	Capital reserve unrealised £’000	Revenue reserve^* £’000	Total £’000
As at 1 January 2020	95,161	559,972	4,074	106,915	(45,705)	209,089	(23,666)	905,840
Comprehensive income for the year:
Management fees allocated as capital expenditure	–	–	–	–	(14,508)	–	–	(14,508)
Current year gain on disposal of fixed asset investments	–	–	–	–	3,783	–	–	3,783
Current year losses on disposal of current asset investments	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Gains on fair value of fixed asset investments	–	–	–	–	–	104,930	–	104,930
Gains on fair value of current asset investments	–	–	–	–	–	4,352	–	4,352
Loss after tax	–	–	–	–	–	–	(4,991)	(4,991)
Performance fee	–	–	–	–	(18,402)	–	–	(18,402)
Total comprehensive income for the year	–	–	–	–	(29,127)	109,282	(4,991)	75,164
Contributions by and distributions to owners:
Share issue (includes DRIS)^**	14,644	118,740	–	–	–	–	–	133,384
Repurchase of own shares	(2,303)	–	2,303	(19,994)	–	–	–	(19,994)
Dividends paid (includes DRIS)	–	–	–	(51,318)	–	–	–	(51,318)
Total contributions by and distributions to owners	12,341	118,740	2,303	(71,312)	–	–	–	62,072
Other movements:
Share premium cancellation	–	(114,404)	–	114,404	–	–	–	–
Transfer between reserves	–	–	–	–	6,402	(6,402)	–	–
Prior year fixed asset gains now realised	–	–	–	–	2,263	(2,263)	–	–
Prior year current asset losses now realised	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Foreign exchange translation	–	–	–	–	–	–	159	159
Total other movements	–	(114,404)	–	114,404	8,665	(8,665)	159	159
Balance as at 31 December 2020	107,502	564,308	6,377	150,007	(66,167)	309,706	(28,498)	1,043,235

^*Reserves available for distribution.

^**This is net of allotment fees of £3.5 million.

Cash Flow Statement

	Unaudited Six months to 30 June 2021 £’000	Unaudited Six months to 30 June 2020 £’000	Audited Year to 31 December 2020 £’000
Reconciliation of profit to cash flows from operating activities
Profit/(loss) before tax	218,580	(26,016)	75,323
Increase in debtors	(786)	(2,854)	(3,193)
Increase/(decrease) in creditors	36,672	(18,669)	490
Gains on disposal of current asset investments	–	–	–
Losses/(gains) on valuation of current asset investments	57	66	(4,352)
(Gains)/losses on disposal of fixed asset investments	(34,475)	672	(3,783)
(Gains)/losses on valuation of fixed asset investments	(251,697)	15,680	(104,930)
Outflow from operating activities	(31,649)	(31,121)	(40,445)

Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of current asset investments	(1,560)	(6,197)	(5,205)
Sale of current asset investments	–	–	–
Purchase of fixed asset investments	(52,434)	(52,827)	(95,792)
Sale of fixed asset investments	29,782	12,997	23,915
Zenith distribution	25,000	–	–
Inflow/(outflow) from investing activities	788	(46,027)	(77,082)

Cash flows from financing activities
Applications Inflows allotted	(3,250)	(5,539)	(1,952)
Purchase of own shares	(15,986)	(7,008)	(19,994)
Net proceeds from share issues	54,365	63,896	128,103
Dividends Paid (net of DRIS)	(25,089)	(30,494)	(46,037)
Inflow from financing activities	10,040	20,855	60,120

(Decrease)/Increase in cash and cash equivalents	(20,821)	(56,293)	(57,407)
Opening cash and cash equivalents	150,131	207,538	207,538
Closing cash and cash equivalents	129,310	151,245	150,131

Cash and cash equivalents comprise
Cash at Bank	40,822	4,105	9,348
Applications cash	363	26	3,613
Money Market Funds	88,125	147,114	137,170
	129,310	151,245	150,131

For further information please contact:

Katherine Fyfe
Octopus Company Secretarial Services Limited
+44 (0)20 7710 2800

Related Topics:AI Artificial Intelligence Machine learning

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Artificial Intelligence

IBM, Government of Canada, Government of Quebec Sign Agreements to Strengthen Canada’s Semiconductor Industry

Published

2 hours ago

April 26, 2024

CISION (PR Newswire)

ibm,-government-of-canada,-government-of-quebec-sign-agreements-to-strengthen-canada’s-semiconductor-industry

Up to $187M CAD to be invested to progress expansion of chip packaging capacity and capabilities and to strengthen R&D at IBM Canada’s Bromont plant
BROMONT, QC, April 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM), the Government of Canada, and the Government of Quebec today announced agreements that will strengthen Canada’s semiconductor industry, and further develop the assembly, testing and packaging (ATP) capabilities for semiconductor modules to be used across a wide range of applications including telecommunications, high performance computing, automotive, aerospace & defence, computer networks, and generative AI, at IBM Canada’s plant in Bromont, Quebec. The agreements reflect a combined investment valued at approximately $187M CAD.

“Today’s announcement is a massive win for Canada and our dynamic tech sector. It will create high-paying jobs, invest in innovation, strengthen supply chains, and help make sure the most advanced technologies are Canadian-made. Semiconductors power the world, and we’re putting Canada at the forefront of that opportunity,” said the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
In addition to the advancement of packaging capabilities, IBM will be conducting R&D to develop methods for scalable manufacturing and other advanced assembly processes to support the packaging of different chip technologies, to further Canada’s role in the North American semiconductor supply chain and expand and anchor Canada’s capabilities in advanced packaging.
The agreements also allow for collaborations with small and medium-sized Canadian-based enterprises with the intent of fostering the development of a semiconductor ecosystem, now and into the future.
“IBM has long been a leader in semiconductor research and development, pioneering breakthroughs to meet tomorrow’s challenges. With the demand for compute surging in the age of AI, advanced packaging and chiplet technology is becoming critical for the acceleration of AI workloads,” said Darío Gil, IBM Senior Vice President and Director of Research. “As one of the largest chip assembly and testing facilities in North America, IBM’s Bromont facility will play a central role in this future. We are proud to be working with the governments of Canada and Quebec toward those goals and to build a stronger and more balanced semiconductor ecosystem in North America and beyond.”
IBM Canada’s Bromont plant is one of North America’s largest chip assembly and testing facilities, having operated in the region for 52 years. Today, the facility transforms advanced semiconductor components into state-of-the-art microelectronic solutions, playing a key role in IBM’s semiconductor R&D leadership alongside IBM’s facilities at the Albany NanoTech Complex and throughout New York’s Hudson Valley. These agreements will help to further establish a corridor of semiconductor innovation from New York to Bromont.
“Advanced packaging is a crucial component of the semiconductor industry, and IBM Canada’s Bromont plant has led the world in this process for decades,” said Deb Pimentel, president of IBM Canada. “Building upon IBM’s 107-year legacy of technology innovation and R&D in Canada, the Canadian semiconductor industry will now become even stronger, allowing for robust supply chains and giving Canadians steady access to even more innovative technologies and products. This announcement represents just one more example of IBM’s leadership and commitment to the country’s technology and business landscape.”
Chip packaging, the process of connecting integrated circuits on a chip or circuit board, has become more complex as electronic devices have shrunk and the components of chips themselves get smaller and smaller. IBM announced the world’s first 2 nanometer chip technology in 2021 and, as the semiconductor industry moves towards new methods of chip construction, advances in packaging will grow in importance.
“Semiconductors are part of our everyday life. They are in our phones, our cars, and our appliances. Through this investment, we are supporting Canadian innovators, creating good jobs, and solidifying Canada’s semiconductor industry to build a stronger economy. Canada is set to play a larger role in the global semiconductor industry thanks to projects like the one we are announcing today. Because, when we invest in semiconductor and quantum technologies, we invest in economic security.” — The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
“This investment by IBM in Bromont will ensure that Quebec continues to stand out in the field of microelectronics. An increase in production capacity will solidify Quebec’s position in the strategic microelectronics sector in North America.” — The Honourable Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Minister responsible for Regional Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Metropolis and the Montreal region
About IBMIBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in semiconductors, AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.
Media ContactLorraine BaldwinIBM [email protected]
Willa HahnIBM [email protected]
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Artificial Intelligence

HITACHI ACQUIRES MA MICRO AUTOMATION OF GERMANY IN EFFORT TO ACCELERATE GLOBAL EXPANSION OF ROBOTIC SI BUSINESS IN THE MEDICAL AND OTHER FIELDS

Published

4 hours ago

April 26, 2024

CISION (PR Newswire)

hitachi-acquires-ma-micro-automation-of-germany-in-effort-to-accelerate-global-expansion-of-robotic-si-business-in-the-medical-and-other-fields

HOLLAND, Mich., April 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Hitachi Ltd. (TSE: 6501, “Hitachi”) has signed a stock purchase agreement on April 26 to acquire all shares of MA micro automation GmbH (“MA micro automation”, headquartered in St. Leon-Rot, Germany) from MAX Management GmbH (a subsidiary of MAX Automation SE). MA micro automation is a leading provider of robotic and automation technology (robotic SI) including high-speed linear handling systems, high-precision assembly lines, and high-speed vision inspection technology for Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia, for EUR 71.5M million. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2024, pending completion of the customary regulatory filings. After the acquisition is completed, MA micro automation will join JR Automation Technologies, LLC (“JR Automation”), a market leader in providing advanced automation solutions and digital technologies in the robotic system integration business for North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia as a continued effort to expand the company’s global presence.

MA micro automation is a technology leader for automation solutions within micro-assembly. Through its state-of-the-art proprietary high-speed and high-precision automation know-how, combined with unique optical image inspection capabilities, MA micro automation serves high-growth med-tech automation end-markets, covering the production, assembly, and testing medical and optical components including contact lenses, IVD and diabetes diagnostics consumables, and injection molding for medical use. The company was established in 2003 through a carve-out from Siemens*1 and since 2013 has been part of the MAX Automation group.
JR Automation is a leading provider of intelligent automated manufacturing technology solutions, serving customers across the globe in a variety of industries including automotive, life sciences, e-mobility, consumer and industrial products. With over 20 locations between North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia, the leading integrator offers nearly 2 million square feet (185,806 sq. m) of available build and engineering floorspace. This acquisition allows JR Automation to further grow and strengthen both the company’s geographical footprint and their continued commitment on expanding support capabilities within the European region and medical market vertical.
“MA micro automation provides engineering, build and support expertise with established capabilities in complex vision applications, high-speed and high-precision automation technologies. When integrated with JR Automation’s uniform global process and digital technologies, this partnership will further enhance our ability to deliver added value and support to all of our customers worldwide and continue to grow our capabilities in the medical market,” says Dave DeGraaf, CEO of JR Automation. “As we integrate this new dimension, impressive talents and abilities of the MA micro automation team we further enhance our ability to serve our customers, creating a more robust and globally balanced offering.”
With this acquisition, Hitachi aims to further enhance its ability to provide a “Total Seamless Solution*2” to connect manufacturer’s factory floors seamlessly and digitally with their front office data, allowing them to achieve total optimization and bringing Industry 4.0 to life. This “Total Seamless Solution” strategy links organizations’ operational activities such as engineering, supply chain, and purchasing to the plant floor and allows for real time, data-driven decision-making that improves the overall business value for customers.
Kazunobu Morita, Vice President and Executive Officer, CEO of Industrial Digital Business Unit, Hitachi, Ltd. says, “We are very pleased to welcome MA micro automation to the Hitachi Group. The team is based in Europe, providing robotic SI to global medical device manufacturing customers with its high technological capabilities and will join forces with JR Automation and Hitachi Automation to strengthen our global competitiveness. Hitachi aims to enhance its ability to provide value to customers and grow alongside them by leveraging its strengths in both OT, IT, including robotic SI, and “Total Seamless Solution” through Lumada*3’s customer co-creation framework.”
Joachim Hardt, CEO MA micro automation GmbH says, “Following the successful establishment and growth of MA micro automation within the attractive automation market for medical technology products, we are now opening a new chapter. Our partnership with Hitachi will not only strengthen our global competitive position, but we will also benefit from joint technological synergies and a global market presence. We look forward to a synergistic partnership with Hitachi and JR Automation.”
Outline of MA micro automation
Name
MA micro automation GmbH
Head Office
St. Leon-Rot, Germany
Representative
Joachim Hardt (CEO)
Outline of Business
Automation solutions within micro-assembly
Total no. of Employees:
Approx. 200 (As of April 2024)
Founded
2003
Revenues (2023)
€ 46.5 million
Website

Home

*1
“Siemens” is a registered trademark or trademark of Siemens Trademark GmbH & Co. KG in the U.S. and other countries.
*2
“Total Seamless Solution” is a registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. in the U.S. and Japan.
*3
Lumada: A collective term for solutions, services and technologies based on Hitachi’s advanced digital technologies for creating value from customers’ data accelerating digital innovation. https://www.hitachi.com/products/it/lumada/global/en/index.html
About JR AutomationEstablished in 1980, JR Automation is a leading provider of intelligent automated manufacturing technology solutions that solve customers’ key operational and productivity challenges. JR Automation serves customers across the globe in a variety of industries, including automotive, life sciences, aerospace, and more.
In 2019, JR Automation was acquired by Hitachi, Ltd. In a strategic effort towards offering a seamless connection between the physical and cyber space for industrial manufacturers and distributers worldwide. With this partnership, JR Automation provides customers a unique, single-source solution for complete integration of their physical assets and data information, offering greater speed, flexibility, and efficiencies towards achieving their Industry 4.0 visions. JR Automation employs over 2,000 people at 21 manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, please visit www.jrautomation.com.
About Hitachi, Ltd.Hitachi drives Social Innovation Business, creating a sustainable society through the use of data and technology. We solve customers’ and society’s challenges with Lumada solutions leveraging IT, OT (Operational Technology) and products. Hitachi operates under the 3 business sectors of “Digital Systems & Services” – supporting our customers’ digital transformation; “Green Energy & Mobility” – contributing to a decarbonized society through energy and railway systems, and “Connective Industries” – connecting products through digital technology to provide solutions in various industries. Driven by Digital, Green, and Innovation, we aim for growth through co-creation with our customers. The company’s revenues as 3 sectors for fiscal year 2023 (ended March 31, 2024) totaled 8,564.3 billion yen, with 573 consolidated subsidiaries and approximately 270,000 employees worldwide. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company’s website at https://www.hitachi.com.
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Artificial Intelligence

$10 million Artificial Intelligence Mathematical Olympiad Prize appoints further advisory committee members

Published

6 hours ago

April 26, 2024

CISION (PR Newswire)

D. Sculley, Kevin Buzzard, Leo de Moura, Lester Mackey and Peter J. Liu appointed to the advisory committee for the Artificial Intelligence Mathematical Olympiad Prize.
LONDON, April 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — XTX Markets’ newly created Artificial Intelligence Mathematical Olympiad Prize (‘AIMO Prize’) is a $10mn challenge fund designed to spur the creation of a publicly shared AI model capable of winning a gold medal in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).

XTX Markets is delighted to announce the appointment of five further advisory committee members. This group brings great expertise in machine learning, including D. Sculley, the CEO of Kaggle; Lester Mackey, a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and a Macarthur Fellow; and Peter J. Liu, a research scientist at Google DeepMind.
Prolific mathematicians Kevin Buzzard, who achieved a perfect score in the International Mathematical Olympiad, and Leo De Moura who is the Chief Architect for Lean, the automated reasoning tool, also join the advisory group.
They join the existing advisory committee members Terence Tao and Timothy Gowers, both winners of the Fields Medal, as well as Dan Roberts, Geoff Smith and Po-Shen Loh.
The AIMO Advisory Committee will support the development of the AIMO Prize, including advising on appropriate protocols and technical aspects, and designing the various competitions and prizes.
Simon Coyle, Head of Philanthropy at XTX Markets, commented:
“We are thrilled to complete the AIMO Advisory Committee with the appointments of D., Kevin, Leo, Lester and Peter. Together, they have enormous experience in machine learning and automated reasoning and are already bringing expertise and wisdom to the AIMO Prize. We look forward to announcing the winners of the AIMO’s first Progress Prize soon, and then publicly sharing the AI models to support the open and collaborative development of AI.”
Further information on the AIMO Prize
There will be a grand prize of $5mn for the first publicly shared AI model to enter an AIMO approved competition and perform at a standard equivalent to a gold medal in the IMO. There will also be a series of progress prizes, totalling up to $5mn, for publicly shared AI models that achieve key milestones towards the grand prize.
The first AIMO approved competition opened to participants in April 2024 on the Kaggle competition platform. The first progress prize focuses on problems pitched at junior and high-school level maths competitions. There is a total prize pot of $1.048m for the first progress prize, of which at least $254k will be awarded in July 2024, There will be a presentation of progress held in Bath, England in July 2024, as part of the 65th IMO.
For more information on the AIMO Prize visit: https://aimoprize.com/ or the competition page on Kaggle: https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/ai-mathematical-olympiad-prize/
Advisory Committee member profiles:
D. Sculley
D. is the CEO at Kaggle. Prior to joining Kaggle, he was a director at Google Brain, leading research teams working on robust, responsible, reliable and efficient ML and AI. In his career in ML, he has worked on nearly every aspect of machine learning, and has led both product and research teams including those on some of the most challenging business problems. Some of his well-known work involves ML technical debt, ML education, ML robustness, production-critical ML, and ML for scientific applications such as protein design.
Kevin Buzzard
Kevin a professor of pure mathematics at Imperial College London, specialising in algebraic number theory. As well as his research and teaching, he has a wide range of interests, including being Deputy Head of Pure Mathematics, Co-Director of a CDT and the department’s outreach champion. He is currently focusing on formal proof verification, including being an active participant in the Lean community. From October 2024, he will be leading a project to formalise a 21st century proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem. Before joining Imperial, some 20 years ago, he was a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge, where he had previously been named ‘Senior Wrangler’ (the highest scoring undergraduate mathematician). He was also a participant in the International Mathematical Olympiad, winning gold with a perfect score in 1987. He has been a visitor at the IAS in Princeton, a visiting lecturer at Harvard, has won several prizes both for research and teaching, and has given lectures all over the world.
Leo de Moura
Leo is a Senior Principal Applied Scientist in the Automated Reasoning Group at AWS. In his spare time, he dedicates himself to serving as the Chief Architect of the Lean FRO, a non-profit organization that he proudly co-founded alongside Sebastian Ullrich. He is also honoured to hold a position on the Board of Directors at the Lean FRO, where he actively contributes to its growth and development. Before joining AWS in 2023, he was a Senior Principal Researcher in the RiSE group at Microsoft Research, where he worked for 17 years starting in 2006. Prior to that, he worked as a Computer Scientist at SRI International. His research areas are automated reasoning, theorem proving, decision procedures, SAT and SMT. He is the main architect of several automated reasoning tools: Lean, Z3, Yices 1.0 and SAL. Leo’s work in automated reasoning has been acknowledged with a series of prestigious awards, including the CAV, Haifa, and Herbrand awards, as well as the Programming Languages Software Award by the ACM. Leo’s work has also been reported in the New York Times and many popular science magazines such as Wired, Quanta, and Nature News.
Lester Mackey
Lester Mackey is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research, where he develops machine learning methods, models, and theory for large-scale learning tasks driven by applications from climate forecasting, healthcare, and the social good. Lester moved to Microsoft from Stanford University, where he was an assistant professor of Statistics and, by courtesy, of Computer Science. He earned his PhD in Computer Science and MA in Statistics from UC Berkeley and his BSE in Computer Science from Princeton University. He co-organized the second place team in the Netflix Prize competition for collaborative filtering; won the Prize4Life ALS disease progression prediction challenge; won prizes for temperature and precipitation forecasting in the yearlong real-time Subseasonal Climate Forecast Rodeo; and received best paper, outstanding paper, and best student paper awards from the ACM Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation, the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, and the International Conference on Machine Learning. He is a 2023 MacArthur Fellow, a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, an elected member of the COPSS Leadership Academy, and the recipient of the 2023 Ethel Newbold Prize.
Peter J. Liu
Peter J. Liu is a Research Scientist at Google DeepMind in the San Francisco Bay area, doing machine learning research with a specialisation in language models since 2015 starting in the Google Brain team. He has published and served as area chair in top machine learning and NLP conferences such as ICLR, ICML, NEURIPS, ACL and EMNLP. He also has extensive production experience, including launching the first deep learning model for Gmail Anti-Spam, and using neural network models to detect financial fraud for top banks. He has degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Toronto.
About XTX Markets:
XTX Markets is a leading financial technology firm which partners with counterparties, exchanges and e-trading venues globally to provide liquidity in the Equity, FX, Fixed Income and Commodity markets. XTX has over 200 employees based in London, Paris, New York, Mumbai, Yerevan and Singapore. XTX is consistently a top 5 liquidity provider globally in FX (Euromoney 2018-present) and is also the largest European equities (systematic internaliser) liquidity provider (Rosenblatt FY: 2020-2023).
The company’s corporate philanthropy focuses on STEM education and maximum impact giving (alongside an employee matching programme). Since 2017, XTX has donated over £100mn to charities and good causes, establishing it as a major donor in the UK and globally.
In a changing world XTX Markets is at the forefront of making financial markets fairer and more efficient for all.

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