14 May 2015
Results for the year to 31 March 2015
- Financial
All three businesses are performing well
- Strong total return of 20% (£659m) in the year
- Good flow of Private Equity realisations with proceeds of £831m; continued selective investment of £369m in four transactions and strong earnings growth in the portfolio underpinned a £719m investment return
- Gross investment return of 20% in Infrastructure, which benefited from a 25% total shareholder return from 3i Infrastructure plc, its strongest performance since IPO
- Debt Management raised £2.4bn AUM during the year, closing 6 CLOs and diversifying its offering through the €250m first close of the European Middle Market Loan Fund
- Continued material improvement in cash income and ongoing operational efficiency led to operating cash profit
of £28m - Robust balance sheet with gross debt and interest costs reduced to £815m and £49m respectively. Net cash of £49m and nil gearing at 31 March 2015
- 14% increase in NAV to 396 pence per share, despite significant foreign exchange headwinds of £114m or 12 pence per share
- Proposed final dividend of 14.0 pence per share, bringing the total dividend for FY2015 to 20.0 pence per share, subject to shareholder approval
Simon Borrows, 3i’s Chief Executive, commented:
“This has been a strong year for 3i with all three of our businesses performing well. We have reshaped our business model and our shareholders are benefiting from attractive returns and dividends. We look forward with confidence.”
Financial highlights
| Year to/as at 31 March 2015 |
Year to/as at 31 March 2014 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Group | ||
| Total return | £659m | £478m |
| - Total return on opening shareholders’ funds | 19.9% | 16.3% |
| Dividend per ordinary share | 20.0p | 20.0p |
| Operating expenses | £131m | £136m |
| - As a percentage of assets under management | 1.0% | 1.0% |
| Operating cash profit | £28m | £5m |
| Proprietary Capital | ||
| Realisation proceeds | £841m | £677m |
| - Uplift over opening book value1 | £145m/27% | £191m/45% |
| - Money multiple | 2.0x | 1.8x |
| Gross investment return2 | £805m | £665m |
| - As a percentage of opening 3i portfolio value | 22.6% | 20.2% |
| Operating profit3 | £721m | £539m |
| Cash investment | £474m | £337m |
| 3i portfolio value | £3,877m | £3,565m |
| Gross debt | £815m | £857m |
| Net cash/(debt) | £49m | £(160)m |
| Gearing | nil | 5% |
| Liquidity | £1,214m | £1,197m |
| Net asset value | £3,806m | £3,308m |
| Diluted net asset value per ordinary share | 396p | 348p |
| Fund Management | ||
| Total assets under management | £13,474m | £12,911m |
| - Third party capital | £10,140m | £9,508m |
| - Proportion of third party capital | 75% | 74% |
| Total fee income | £125m | £127m |
| - Third-party fee income | £80m | £76m |
| Operating profit3 | £26m | £19m |
| Underlying Fund Management profit3,4 | £33m | £33m |
| - Underlying Fund Management margin | 26% | 26% |
1 Uplift over opening book value excludes refinancings. The 2014 balance has been restated from £202m to £191m to exclude refinancings.
2 Gross investment return includes portfolio fees of nil (2014: £3 million) allocated to Fund Management.
3 Operating profit for the Proprietary Capital and Fund Management activities excludes carried interest and performance fees payable/receivable, which is not allocated between these activities.
4 Excludes Fund Management restructuring costs of £1m and amortisation costs of £6m (2014: £8 million, £6 million).
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Silvia Santoro, Investor Relations Director
Tel: 020 7975 3258
Kathryn van der Kroft, Communications Director
Tel: 020 7975 3021
For further information regarding the announcement of 3i’s annual results to 31 March 2015, including a live videocast of the results presentation at 10.00am, please visit www.3i.com.
