Blue Star Capital PLC (LON:BLU) expects more progress this year from its two key investments with a boost also to come from a recent move into esports.
An improvement in the value of 27.9% owned micropayment specialist SatoshiPay help assets rise slightly to £5.1mln in the year to September, even though Blue Star itself posted a loss of £685,000.
SatoshiPay has just launched a joint venture with Axel Springer to enable readers to pay for the German publisher’s content using an e-wallet.
The company is also working on a cross-border payment system to allow companies instantly to transfer funds around the world.
Blue Star also has a small (0.9%) stake in Sthaler, which has developed Fingopay a widely lauded fingerprint recognition system that is currently on trial in Manchester and in Egypt.
Read the latest Proactive Research on Blue Star Capital
Since the year-end, Blue Star has acquired a portfolio of esports franchises and refinanced with a £900,000 share issue.
Tony Fabrizi, chief executive, said: "The last year was one of consolidation with our main portfolio companies making solid progress in developing their businesses.
“Post year-end, we have invested in a portfolio of esports businesses which offer significant potential and both SatoshiPay and Sthaler have more recently announced key strategic developments which offer great hope for the future.”