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IP: unquoted holdings bail out quoted

The early-stage investment group saw the value of its listed portfolio decline last year
March 13, 2017

A decline in the value of listed small-cap and biotech companies weighed on IP 's (IPO) assets last year. A reduction in the share price of its investments traded on London's alternative market meant the fair value of the listed portfolio declined by £36.1m. Companies including Diurnal (DNL), Avacta (AVCT) and hVivo (HVO) suffered the worst losses. This resulted in lower valuation gains on the overall portfolio of just £6.5m, compared with £86.2m the previous year.

IC TIP: Hold at 161.3p

Helping out there was the unquoted portfolio, which enjoyed a £43.1m increase on the value of its investments. Oxford Nanopore - the group's most valuable holding - announced a £100m fundraising to expand its operations geographically, including across Asia. The company, which has designed and sells the world's only portable DNA sequencer, announced a new pipeline product, SmidgION, the smallest sequencing device that can be plugged into a smartphone.

IP's first two portfolio companies emerging from US university partners, Exyn Technologies and Uniformity Labs, raised a combined £5.4m in post-seed financing rounds via private share placings. IP committed £2.9m as part of these financing rounds. The group deployed a total £58.8m across 55 companies during the year, down from £75.9m the previous year.

IP (IPO)

ORD PRICE:161.3pMARKET VALUE:£912m
TOUCH:161.1-161.3p12-MONTH HIGH:209pLOW: 118p
DIVIDEND YIELD:nilPE RATIO:na
NET ASSET VALUE:136pNET CASH:£112m

Year to 31 DecTurnover (£m)Pre-tax profit (£m)Earning per share (p)Dividend per share (p)
201252.540.711.1nil
201385.472.619.6nil
201428.49.52.0nil
201598.375.113.7nil
20167.6-14.8-2.4nil
% change-86---

Ex-div: na

Payment: na