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(Alliance News) - 3i Group PLC on Thursday said it has made a "strong start" to the 2022 financial year, with a 12% total return in the first quarter driven by the Action chain of homewares stores.
The London-based private equity firm's net asset value per share increased 12% to 1,063 pence on June 30 from 947p on March 31.
Shares were up 3.6% to 1,256.00p in London on Thursday morning.
The performance was driven by Action, 3i's biggest asset now valued at GBP5.51 billion out of 3i's total proprietary capital portfolio of GBP11.56 billion.
The retailer, which has stores in nine European countries, grew sales by 52% year-on-year in the period to EUR1.69 billion. 3i noted that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation more than doubled, but did not give any figures.
The rest of the private equity portfolio generated good returns and is set to benefit from structural trends such as biologics and online shopping, 3i said.
Chief Executive Simon Borrows said: "Our investment portfolios in private equity and infrastructure are well-positioned for another year of good progress. Action's impressive performance continues, and the group is trading very well now that all stores have fully reopened.
"We are working on a number of investment and realisation opportunities across the investment teams, but we remain highly selective when deploying new capital in the current environment."
By Ivan Edwards; ivanedwards@alliancenews.com
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