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3i will be holding a capital markets seminar this morning, involving a presentation from the management team of Action, our largest portfolio company. A live webcast of the seminar will take place at 10.00 (UK time). To register for the webcast, please visit https://www.3i.com/investor-relations. An on-demand webcast of the seminar will also be available on our website by the end of the day.

Action performed strongly in 2021, generating net sales of €6,834 million (up 23% on the previous year) and EBITDA of €828 million (a 36% increase on the previous year). Reported like-for-like sales growth was 11%, even though many stores were closed or had restricted trading as a result of public health measures. The business added 267 net new stores to its portfolio and expanded its presence into the Italian market. Action has seen a good start to 2022 across all its geographies. More details on Action’s performance will be available in the presentation.

We completed our semi-annual portfolio company review (“PCR”) meetings for our top 20 Private Equity investments (which at 31 December accounted for 97% of the total Private Equity portfolio value) during the two weeks commencing 7 March 2022. Overall, the PCR meetings re-emphasised the strong momentum in the portfolio as it emerges from the pandemic, with particularly good performance from our healthcare and consumer retail assets. Inflation and supply chain challenges will be a focus this year and the majority of companies in our portfolio have plans to mitigate these issues.  

3i Group has no direct exposure to Russia or Ukraine. We are reviewing our Private Equity and Infrastructure companies to understand the situation across the portfolio. Our initial review indicates that exposure is minimal, although one company has an operating subsidiary in Russia and that company is exploring how best to deal with the situation in the short term. Action has not been directly impacted and has no stores in that region.

3i will be donating £1 million split between UNICEF and MSF in support of humanitarian relief efforts to aid victims of the war in Ukraine. A number of our portfolio companies, including Action, have also made donations or otherwise provided support to those affected by the war. 

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3i Group plc