Half-year figures from technology investor Imperial Innovations (IVO) were dominated by the flotation of Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR), the largest company in its portfolio. The IPO raised £200m in March, prior to which Circassia had a carrying value of just £45m. The gain on the revaluation of this asset provided a net £33.2m boost for Imperial, which explains the impressive profit hike.
Imperial, which was originally spun out of Imperial College, still has a 14 per cent stake in Circassia, but there's more to the group than that. Last year, investments in immunology specialist Oxford Immunotec (OXFD) and digital health group IXICO also paid off: Oxford Immunotec successfully listed on Nasdaq in December, while IXICO joined AIM in October. In fact, companies in biotech or healthcare account for over half of the gross carrying value of Imperial's top 30 investments. The company invested a further £11.1m into the sector last year.
Imperial also invested £4.7m in a portfolio of engineering companies and another £1.2m in information and technology businesses. Funding further investments shouldn’t be problematic - there’s a decent cash pile and Imperial has a £30m loan facility from the European Investment Bank.
Pending upgrades, broker Edison had been forecasting EPS of 4.3p for 2014 (2012: 4.6p).
IMPERIAL INNOVATIONS (IVO) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 403p | MARKET VALUE: | £402m | |
| TOUCH: | 400-425p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 490p | LOW: 245p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 14 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 256p | NEBT CASH: | £33.3m | |
| Half-year to 31 Jan | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 1.61 | 0.9 | 1.5 | nil |
| 2014 | 1.58 | 24.4 | 24.7 | nil |
| % change | -2 | +2611 | +1547 | - |
Ex-div:- Payment:- | ||||
