IP Group (IPO) specialises in developing early-stage intellectual-property businesses. It's fair to say that gestation periods between investment and realisation vary considerably, and a glance at the table below shows just what this can do to profit levels.
Last year's strong performance was largely the result of a significant uplift in the fair value of equity and debt investments - up £82.4m against a £38m gain in 2012. Portfolio realisations added another £5.5m, although this was down from £16.7m. All in all, fair value of the whole portfolio jumped from £182m to £286m.
Demand for seed capital is certainly bubbling along nicely, and the group had little trouble raising an extra £100m by issuing fresh equity. Some of this has been used to acquire the remaining 79.9 per cent of Fusion IP not already owned. The enlarged entity will have access to intellectual property from 15 of the UK's top research universities and two in the US.
Highlights for the current year so far include the Aim flotation of analytics technology group Actual Experience, in which IP group has a 29.9 per cent stake. The group also owns 21 per cent of Xeros, which has invented a near-waterless washing machine and posted its intention to float last month.
| IP GROUP (IPO) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 216p | MARKET VALUE: | £942m | |
| TOUCH: | 215-216p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 242p | LOW: 125p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 11 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 77p | NET CASH: | £24.1m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | na* | -6.5 | -2.5 | nil |
| 2010 | 7.0 | 1.8 | 0.7 | nil |
| 2011 | 5.9 | -5.5 | -1.8 | nil |
| 2012 | 52.5 | 40.7 | 11.1 | nil |
| 2013 | 85.4 | 72.6 | 19.6 | nil |
| % change | +63 | +78 | +77 | - |
Ex-div:- Payment:- *Total portfolio return and revenue are negative | ||||
