3i's Action unit performing strongly as expansion continues

Action, which accounted for £3.72bn of the £4.06bn total gross investment return from 3i's private equity portfolio in the year to 31 March, has seen like-for-like sales grow by 9% so far this calendar year.

The retailer has more than 2,300 stores across the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain and Slovakia. It has opened a net 107 new stores in 2024 so far and is said to be on track with its expansion plans.

"We believe Action's approach of passing on price reductions to consumers as a result of its growing buying power will continue to underpin its sector-leading like-for-like performance over the medium term," 3i said in a statement.

As part of Thursday's annual general meeting update, the company also said the remainder of the private equity portfolio "continues to demonstrate resilience" with the majority of the portfolio trading well.

"The trends driving portfolio performance are consistent with those set out in our full-year results," the company said.