Technology commercialisation and investment group Imperial Innovations (IVO) delivered a steady enough first-half performance - indeed, its the top three assets, representing just over half the investment portfolio, made notably strong progress. Net fair value gains arising from the portfolio grew from £2.9m to £4.2m, although this was countered by a £3.5m impairment charge on the group's investment in Thiakis.
Imperial has priority rights to intellectual property primarily from research at London's Imperial College. These technologies are then licensed before transferring the intellectual property to a new company. At the half-year stage, the gross value of the investment portfolio had risen 11 per cent to £173.6m - reflecting new investments of £14m in 15 portfolio companies and gains on revaluation.
Strong performers in the portfolio included Circassia, which initiated Phase III trials for its cat allergy product, and battery specialist Nexeon, which signed a development agreement with a major electronics group - since the period ended it has also signed a deal that will provide engineering expertise for the design and construction of a production plant. Moreover, Veryan Medical received approval to sell its BioMIMICS stent within the EU.
Prior to these figures, broker Edison Investment Research expected a full-year loss per share of 0.8p (from EPS of 8.1p in 2012).
| IMPERIAL INNOVATIONS (IVO) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 285p | MARKET VALUE: | £284m | |
| TOUCH: | 275-295p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 385p | LOW: 268p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 35 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 228p | NET CASH: | £63m | |
| Half-year to 31 Jan | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 1.61 | 0.93 | 1.49 | nil |
| 2013 | 1.61 | 0.92 | 1.45 | nil |
| % change | - | -1 | -3 | - |
Ex-div:na Payment:na | ||||
