3i Group Plc Generated a total return of 10%

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3i Group Plc (LON:III), today announced half year results to 30 September 2018

· Total return of £728 million, or 10% on opening shareholders’ funds, and NAV per share of 776 pence (31 March 2018: 724 pence)

· Good performance from Private Equity with gross investment return of £667 million, or 11%, driven by growth across our larger investments in particular

· Completed two new Private Equity investments, totalling £245 million, in Royal Sanders and International Cruise and Excursions

· Cash realisations of £1,057 million in the first half, or £528 million net of the £529 million Group reinvestment into Scandlines

· Advised 3i Infrastructure plc (“3iN”) on three investments and three refinancings. 3iN’s share price increased by 14% in the first half

· Maintained our conservative balance sheet and ended the period with net cash of £512 million

· Interim dividend of 15.0 pence, in line with our new dividend policy announced in May 2018

Simon Borrows, 3i’s Chief Executive, commented:

“This was another good half for 3i. We generated a total return of 10%, completed the sale and our subsequent 35% reinvestment into Scandlines, invested in two new Private Equity portfolio companies and advised 3iN on the acquisition of three new investments.

We remain confident in the growth plans across our investments and will maintain our focus on active management to maximise value for our shareholders and co-investors. We have good momentum across our portfolio, but remain cautious about the pricing of new investment in general and are focusing our origination efforts particularly on bilateral processes and on our buy-and-build platforms.”

Summary financial highlights under the Investment basis

3i prepares its statutory financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union . However, we also report a non-GAAP “Investment basis” which we believe aids users of our report to assess the Group’s underlying operating performance. The investment basis (which is unaudited) is an alternative performance measure and is described in the “Reconciliation of the Investment basis to IFRS” section. Total return and net assets are the same under the Investment basis and IFRS and we provide a reconciliation of our Investment basis financial statements to the IFRS statements in the “Reconciliation of the Investment basis to IFRS” section.

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		Six months to/as	Six months to/as	12 months to/as
		at 30 September	at 30 September	at 31 March
Investment basis		2018	2017	2018
Total return		£728m	£655m	£1,425m
% return on opening shareholders’ funds		10%	11%	24%
Dividend per ordinary share		15.0p	8.0p	30.0p

Gross investment return		£789m	£746m	£1,552m
As a percentage of opening 3i portfolio value		12%	13%	27%

Cash investment¹		£779m	£572m	£827m
Realisation proceeds¹		£1,057m	£374m	£1,323m
	Realised profit in the period²	£75m	£53m	£207m
	Money multiple on full realisations in Private Equity³	4.8x	2.0x	2.4x
3i portfolio value		£7,119m	£6,584m	£6,657m
Gross debt		£575m	£575m	£575m
Net cash/(debt)		£512m	£(48)m	£479m
Liquidity		£1,437m	£877m	£1,404m
Diluted net asset value per ordinary share		776p	652p	724p

1Realisation proceeds include £835 million from the sale of Scandlines. Cash investment includes £529 million from the Group’s reinvestment into Scandlines. Realisation proceeds, net of the Scandlines reinvestment, are £528 million and net cash investment is £250 million.

2Realised profits over opening value on the disposal of investments.

3Cash proceeds over cash invested.