IP Group posts positive annual return on portfolio gains

IP Group swung to a positive return on assets last year as portfolio gains increased at the investor in intellectual property businesses.

Return on so-called hard net asset value was 64.1m for the year to the end of December compared with a negative return of £7.6m a year earlier. Net portfolio gains jumped to £94.2m from £6.5m.

The biggest unrealised gains were at Oxford Nanopore Technologies, whose value rose £27.8m, and Ceres Power, where the gain was £13.5m. Unrealised losses on valuations, little changed at £49.2m, included hVivo, where the loss was £15m and Tissue Regenix, where IP Group lost £11.8m.

The FTSE 250 company bought Touchstone Innovations last year to gain greater scale and balance its portfolio. It said the integration of Touchstone, whose investments are in the region bounded by London, Cambridge and Oxford, was going well.

Alan Aubrey, IP Group’s chief executive, said: "Overall, the underlying performance of the group's enlarged portfolio was strong with a number of key milestones attained. The integration of Touchstone Innovations with IP Group is proceeding to plan and we are confident for the year ahead and beyond."

IP Group shares rose 1.7% to 109.2p at 07:20 GMT.