Georgia Capital lifts NAV per share 13.6 per cent to a record GEL 198.91
The holding company repaid its last debt in August, holds GEL 291 million of net cash and has doubled its buyback to US$ 100 million.
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Georgia Capital raised its net asset value per share by 13.6 per cent in the third quarter, from GEL 175.12 to a record GEL 198.91, helped by Lion Finance Group's rising share price, the London-listed holding company said in its third-quarter results on 28 October.
Net asset value reached GEL 6.46 billion at 30 September, up 11.6 per cent from GEL 5.79 billion at 30 June, while the number of shares outstanding fell 1.8 per cent to 32,494,008 as the company bought back and cancelled stock. Since the end of 2025, when it stood at GEL 154.68, net asset value per share has risen 28.6 per cent. In sterling it rose 15.1 per cent in the quarter to GBP 57.69.
Where the quarter's value came from
The listed portfolio produced GEL 656.6 million of value creation, adding 11.3 percentage points to the growth in net asset value per share. Lion Finance Group's shares rose 26.8 per cent in the quarter to GBP 143.70, and Georgia Capital's unchanged 14.9 per cent stake was worth GEL 3.2 billion at 30 September, the results show.
The private portfolio added GEL 153.5 million, or 2.6 points. The company said the aggregate revenue of its large private businesses rose 18.5 per cent from a year earlier and their EBITDA 26.3 per cent, with net operating cash flow of GEL 72.3 million, up 12.3 per cent. Buybacks added 0.6 points, and costs of the management platform took 0.2 points off.
The insurance business, which writes property and casualty and medical cover, raised its pre-tax profit 21.0 per cent from a year earlier in the quarter. Its property and casualty revenues rose 11.9 per cent and its medical insurance revenues 48.1 per cent, which the company put down to newly awarded tenders, growth in its corporate and retail portfolios and higher policy prices. Lion Finance Group, the largest holding, delivered an annualised return on average equity of 27.1 per cent in the second quarter, the latest period the results cite.
No debt at the holding company
Gross debt at the holding company fell to zero for the first time in the quarter. On 29 June the board approved the early redemption of the remaining US$ 50 million of sustainability-linked local bonds issued by JSC Georgia Capital, its Georgian holding company, by exercising a call option; the bonds were redeemed on 19 August. That completed a GEL 700 million capital return programme of US$ 150 million of bond redemptions and US$ 110 million of buybacks, which had been scheduled to run to the end of 2027. The holding company now has a net cash position of GEL 291 million, the company said, and its net capital commitment ratio stood at minus 0.9 per cent against a target of 10 per cent.
Buyback extended to US$ 100 million
In August the company set out a GEL 1 billion capital allocation programme running to 2029, with at least half for shareholder returns through buybacks and potentially dividends. Its first tranche, a US$ 50 million buyback and cancellation programme launched on 14 August and run by Deutsche Numis, allowed for the repurchase of up to 4,682,370 shares. With US$ 42 million of that programme used, the board has extended it by another US$ 50 million to US$ 100 million, to be carried out over six to nine months, citing the discount at which the shares trade to net asset value.
In the third quarter the company repurchased and cancelled 840,604 shares for GEL 130.8 million, or US$ 49.7 million. Since its demerger it has returned US$ 348 million to shareholders by buying back 17.6 million shares, 36.8 per cent of its issued share capital at its peak, the results show.
The healthcare services business plans about GEL 53 million of development capital spending over two to three years, with Georgia Capital putting in GEL 10 million, and will look at a possible listing on an international exchange in three to five years. The company said real GDP growth in Georgia averaged 7.6 per cent in the first eight months of 2026 and annual inflation was 5.6 per cent in September. On 9 September the National Bank of Georgia held its rate at 8.25 per cent. Georgia's rate setting also features in this site's comparison of real policy rates at six central banks.