LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Private equity firm 3i Group reported "another resilient quarter" from its investment portfolio on Thursday, as its net asset value per share rose to 936p as at 31 December, from 905p on 30 September.
The FTSE 100 company said that came despite the negative translation effect of sterling strengthening in the quarter, of £156m.

It reported a total return of 18.7% for the nine months to 31 December, with 92% of its top 20 private equity portfolio by value having grown last-12-month earnings to September.

The firm said Benelux-focussed discount retailer Action reported good sales, EBITDA and cash generation in 2020, despite "significant" disruption from Covid-19.

It also reported continued "very strong" performance in portfolio companies operating in the consumer, e-commerce, healthcare and business services sectors.

3i completed a new private equity investment in MPM during the quarter, and three bolt-on acquisitions for GartenHaus, Havea and Cirtec Medical, while it signed a further bolt-on acquisition for Royal Sanders.

The board also noted good share price performance from 3i Infrastructure in the period.

"3i delivered another solid performance in the quarter ending 31 December; both our private equity and infrastructure teams have continued to perform well," said chief executive officer Simon Borrows.

"Our private equity portfolio continues to benefit from secular growth trends, with 92% of our top 20 investments by value growing last-12-month earnings to September, with particularly strong performances in our high growth investments.

"This was another decent quarter from Action which has bounced back very strongly after each lockdown interruption."

At 0833 GMT, shares in 3i Group were down 1.29% at 1,111p.

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