Losses at the commercialisation firm fell to $105m from $375m as its cash returns exceeded funding commitments for the first time in 13 years.
UK-based commercialisation firm IP Group slashed its deficit more than three-fold during 2019 as losses recovered to £78.9m ($105m) from $375m the previous year – though the latter included an exceptional goodwill impairment due to its acquisition of Touchstone.
IP Group supplied portfolio companies with total funding of £64.7m ($85.8m) during 2019, equating to about two-thirds of its investment in 2018 in dollar terms.
However, cash returns surpassed funding commitments for the first time in 13 years, rising by an annual 169% to around $106m.
The year-on-year change in the fair value of IP Group’s assets was almost static, amounting to around $1.4bn at the end of the reporting period.
IP Group’s overall liquidity, comprising cash deposits and other financing, dipped slightly to $259m from $279m in 2018. Meanwhile, net overheads in 2019 fell to $30m from $33.2m the previous year, down 9.6% in dollar terms.
Deals involving IP Group in 2019 included a $52.2m series B round for oncology genomics technology business Inivata closed in March, and $32.9m raised by fraud detection system developer Featurespace in January.
Both recipients are University of Cambridge spinouts, and IP Group was an existing investor on both occasions.
In separate news, IP Group has announced the resignation of Jonathan Brooks, one of its non-executive board directors.
Brooks was on the IP Group board for almost nine years. He was replaced as remuneration committee chairman in December 2019 by Heejae Chae, former CEO of diversified healthcare and industrial services group Scapa, as part of an orderly transition.
– This article was updated on March 12 to add context to IP Group’s losses in 2018.
