8th Mar 2023 11:25
(Alliance News) - IP Group PLC on Wednesday announced it turned to a loss in 2022 as its investments lost value.
The Oxford, England-based intellectual property commercialisation company swung to a pretax loss of GBP343.5 million from a profit of GBP454.6 million in 2021. IP Group had a negative change of GBP303.4 million in fair value of equity and debt investments, compared to a positive change of GBP415.9 million a year prior.
IP Group's net asset value per share as at December 31 declined by 20% to 132.9 pence from 167.0p a year prior.
"During 2022 we adjusted our investment appetite to reflect the new economic and market realities, investing less than we had planned to invest at the beginning of the year," IP Group said.
The company recommended a final dividend of 0.76 pence per share. This brought the total dividend to 1.26p, up from 1.20p in 2021.
Looking ahead, IP Group noted that support for science-based research an development is a key priority of the UK government due to the country's ageing population.
Chair Douglas Flint said: "We enter 2023 with a clear plan of action to build on past portfolio successes through investing in what is a maturing and exciting range of investment opportunities. We have the financial capacity, the capital allocation discipline and the human talent needed to be successful."
IP Group shares were down 4.4% to 58.90 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.
By Tom Budszus, Alliance News reporter
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