Despite the tough economic conditions, IP Group’s portfolio of 74 investments made decent headway in the first half of the year. The company, which targets technology with commercial potential developed by universities, reported a 8 per cent rise in net asset value (NAV) per share.
The main contributor to the rise was IP Group’s 35 per cent stake in Oxford Nanopore Technologies which is developing a technology to perform DNA mapping on the cheap. The commercial potential of the technology allured £10.1m of private money during the half year at a price that more than doubled the value of the venture to £56m.
However, the portfolio was also knocked by the poor share price performance from its investments in quoted therapeutics companies. Poor market sentiment knocked the value of these investments and created a £7.8m revaluation loss. Three investments, Summit Corporation, Synairgen and Proximagen Neuroscience - accounted for £3.4m of the loss.
The downbeat market mood means it is likely to be harder for IP to find sources of funding as would-be investors worry about the economic outlook, even though IP’s own investment time scale is long-term. Still, the group has a decent cash pile to continue targeting early-stage opportunities.
| IP Group (IPO) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 109p | MARKET VALUE: | £273m | |
| TOUCH: | 108-109p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 141p | LOW: 84p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 10 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 92p | NET CASH: | £40m | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Div per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 12.3 | 18.8 | 7.56 | nil |
| 2008 | 18.5 | 15.8 | 6.34 | nil |
| % change | +50 | -16 | -16 | - |
