IP Group (IPO), which invests in early-stage science-based ventures, accelerated and broadened its investment activity last year, deploying capital into 14 new companies or projects (2014: 11). Since the group invests in companies spun out of universities, returns can take a while and it can be misleading to dwell on pre-tax profits. Instead it is more useful to look at the increase in value of its investment portfolio. On this basis the group performed solidly, with a 58 per cent year-on-year increase pushing net assets up by almost a half to £782m.
Thanks in part to £179m raised in capital during the year, IP was able to increase its investment in spin-outs by 62 per cent to £76m, funnelled into 53 companies in total. The headline transaction was the £70m placing carried out by Oxford Nanopore, helping it progress with developing its DNA sequencing platforms. The fair value of the group's holding in this company alone increased by half to £193m.
The group increased its rate of investment in the US, deploying funds into four new projects. These included a significant minority stake in Princeton University spin-out Uniformity Labs, which develops equipment and software for 3D printing.
IP GROUP (IPO) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 177.6p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.01bn | |
| TOUCH: | 177.6-178.6p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 264p | LOW: 151p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 13 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 138p | NET CASH: | £179m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 5.9 | -5.5 | -1.8 | nil |
| 2012 | 52.5 | 40.7 | 11.1 | nil |
| 2013 | 85.4 | 72.6 | 19.6 | nil |
| 2014 | 28.4 | 9.5 | 1.97 | nil |
| 2015 | 98.3 | 75.1 | 13.7 | nil |
| % change | +246 | +691 | +593 | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na | ||||
