3i reports 11.5% NAV increase

Publishing its full-year results today, the listed private equity group reported total returns of £373m in the 12 months to 31 March 2013, 14.2% of opening shareholders' funds. This compared favourably to the £656m loss in the previous year, a negative return of -19.5%.

Its private equity portfolio performed particularly strongly, returning £518m or 19.7%, compared to a £341m loss in the year ending in March 2012.

3i has also made progress on reducing its debt, achieving its target ahead of schedule, with gross debt of £1.08bn at the end of March and £917m at the end of April, a 44% reduction from the previous year. This has happened while growing assets under management (AUM) by 23% to £12.9bn, though this has been largely driven by a 45% increase in third-party AUM.

Simon Borrows, chief executive of 3i, said: "We have made significant and rapid progress in the turnaround of 3i and we have delivered against all of the immediate priorities and targets for financial year 2013 that we set out in our strategic plan in June last year."

However, analysts say the strong performance is not enough to warrant 3i trading at a premium, with Liberum Capital saying it is placing its current buy recommendation under review.

3i is paying a final dividend of 5.4 pence per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 8.1 pence.

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