3i Group Share News (III)

3i said it had made a strong start to the financial year and was making good progress on its strategic plan.The private equity group had £443m of realisations completed or announced in the first quarter of the year with £665m planned for the full year. Returns also increased with net asset value up 5.0% in the quarter. Chairman Sir Adrian Montague will tell the group's July 18th annual meeting: "We've had a strong start to the current financial year, with the net asset value per share growing by 5.0% from March 31st 2013 to 326p per share at June 30th 2013, which reflects the continued underlying growth in earnings in the private equity portfolio and also a number of good realisations."The group said it intended to make additional payments to shareholders above the annual base dividend for the current financial year.Simon Borrows, 3i's Chief Executive said: "We are making good progress in the next phase of 3i's strategic plan, transition and delivery."We have started to see a pick up in interesting investment opportunities across our private equity platform, particularly in the US and more recently in northern Europe."