Somers Limited Reports Financial Results for the year ended September 30, 2014

Hamilton, Bermuda: 19 December 2014 - Bermuda) Somers Limited, a financial services investment holding company, is pleased to announce its results for the quarter and the year ended September 30, 2014:

Company Highlights for the year ended September 30, 2014:

·         Shareholders’ equity increased by 19.8% to $215.1 million as at September 30, 2014 (September 30, 2013: $179.6 million);

·         Net income of $32.2 million (2013: $33.7 million);

·         Diluted earnings per share of $2.89 (2013: $3.88);

·         Total return on equity for the year of 14.99% (2013: 19.72%);

·         Diluted net asset value per share of $18.96 as at September 30, 2014 (September 30, 2013; $16.81); and

·         Final dividend of $0.22 per share (2013: $0.20 per share) bringing the total dividend for the year to $0.37 per share (2013: $0.32 per share).

Investment Highlights for the year ended September 30, 2014:

·         BCB reported net income of $9.2 million (2013: $8.9 million);

·         BCB Tier 1 ratio of 25.03%;

·         Waverton reported pre-tax income of $11.7 million;

·         Waverton reported Assets under Management (“AuM”) as at September 30, 2014 of $8.4 billion (£5.2 billion) an increase of approximately 20.0% compared to September 30, 2013;

·         Valuation of Somers’ investment in Waverton increased by $24 million over the course of the year to $67 million; and

·         Further investment in Ascot Lloyd Holdings Limited (“Ascot Lloyd”) of £2.4 million and completion of €3.25 million investment in Merrion Capital Holdings Limited (“Merrion”), an Irish financial services group.

Commenting on the financial results, Warren McLeland, Chairman of Somers said:

“Somers has had its second consecutive year of strong growth and the Company’s NAV per share now stands at $18.96 up from $16.81 a year ago and up from $14.34 at Somers’ incorporation in 2012. These results reflect the strong performance from our two key investments, BCB and Waverton, both of whom had profitable years. In particular, Waverton’s improving profitability and the general strengthening of the UK market has seen the value of this investment grow by a further $24 million in 2014 following the $25 million investment gain recorded for 2013. These gains at Waverton were the key contributor to Somers’ strong 2014 performance and partially offset the impact of the strong US dollar.

As a long term investor, the level of new investments deployed by Somers will strongly correlate with new capital growth. We did not repeat the high transaction levels of 2013 which were funded by a number of share issues and a successful warrant issue. However we made a number of smaller investments in 2014 including a further investment in Ascot Lloyd to fund what we consider is a strong value enhancing acquisition and we completed an investment in Merrion. Merrion provides stockbroking, corporate finance advisory and funds management services mainly to the domestic Irish market, and we look forward to benefitting from the synergies Merrion can bring to other parts of the Somers group.

The Company now has an increasingly diversified portfolio of investments across a number of financial services sectors and notwithstanding increased market volatility we look forward to the coming year with confidence.”

Media Contacts:

Alasdair Younie                                                                                                   

Director                                                                                                               

Somers Limited                                                   

Tel:  441-299-2897                                                                            

Email:  ay@icm.bm