■ Private placing for Oxford Nanopore
■ Retroscreen Virology floated on Aim
■ IP's shares jump threefold in seven months
Intellectual property developer
IP Group
has announced successful fundraisings for two of its portfolio companies - a £31.4m private placing for Oxford Nanopore and a £15m Aim flotation for Retroscreen Virology.
However, broker Numis Securities believes that the uplift from the Retroscreen flotation has been offset by a decline in cash following IP's £6.7m additional investment in the Oxford Nanopore placement – leaving its overall fair value estimate for IP unchanged at 129p a share. After throwing in IP's cash, Numis calculated this on the basis that Oxford Nanopore is worth 69p a share, IP's listed portfolio is worth 20p a share, with a further 11p a share coming from the unlisted book. With the shares at 144p, however, the broker's recommendation has been downgraded from buy to hold.
IC VIEW
The shares have soared from about 45p at the end of August and now trade well above analysts' estimates for fair value – it's time to take profits and sell.
Last IC view: Buy, 114p, 9 March 2012
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By Jonas Crosland,
04 May 2012
