IP Group plc (LON: IPO), the developer of intellectual property-based businesses, today announces its annual financial results for the year ended 31 December 2018.
Portfolio highlights
· Fair value of portfolio: £1,128.2m (2017: £1,099.8m)
· Net portfolio loss1 of £48.4m (2017: gain of £94.2m)
· Portfolio cash realisations: £29.5m (2017: £6.6m)
· Capital provided by IP Group to portfolio companies and projects: £100.9m (2017: £71.2m), with Parkwalk Advisors investing a further £20.3m (2017: £13.4m)
· Total funds raised by portfolio companies of £695m (2017: £315m)
· Oxford Nanopore completed £100m financing round plus £50m investment from NASDAQ-listed Amgen; significant commercial progress
· Ceres Power raised new capital of £74m from financial investors, and new strategic partners Bosch and Weichai Power
· Microbiotica signed microbiome collaboration with Genentech worth up to $534m
· Avacta Group plc signed development alliance with LG Chem Life Sciences worth up to $310m
· Artios Pharma completed £65m funding round
· Ultrahaptics completed £35m funding round
· IP Group Australasia completed its first two spin-out investments
Financial and operational highlights
· Hard NAV1 £1,217.5m (2017: £1,295.8m)
· Net assets £1,218.2m (2017: £1,508.5m)
· Gross cash and deposits £219.0m (2017: £326.3m)
· Return on Hard NAV1 of negative £75.6m (2017: positive £64.1m)
· Loss for the year of £90.6m before exceptional goodwill impairment1 of £203.2m (2017: profit £53.4m; £nil)
· Annual synergies achieved from Touchstone integration of £8m by full year 2020
· US business attracted external funding from privately held US blue-chip family office
· Appointment of Sir Douglas Flint as Chairman and Heejae Chae as Non-Executive Director
Post period end highlights
· Featurespace completed £25.0m funding round
· Technology Transfer Operations transferred back to Imperial College; resulting in annual cost savings of c.£3m
[1] Alternative performance measure, see Note 27 for definition and reconciliation to IFRS primary statements.
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive of IP Group, said: “2018 has been a year of consolidation for the Group as we finalised the integration of Touchstone Innovations and identified significant cost synergies that are now starting to come through. We remain excited by the enlarged portfolio which we continue to believe will deliver significant benefits for all stakeholders.
Material progress was made on a number of fronts in 2018, notably the maturation of our model and portfolio with cash realisations rising more than fourfold to £29.5m while our portfolio companies raised £695m, more than double the prior year. While market conditions for AIM-listed small-cap companies were challenging, there was significant commercial progress among many of the key companies in our portfolio, now valued at £1.1bn.
We retain a high level of confidence in our portfolio, with many of our companies due to reach material inflexion points this year, and the benefits that will accrue sustainably to shareholders in the years ahead.”
