IP Group unveils mid-year results

UK-based commercialisation firm IP Group supplied its portfolio with a total of £39m ($49.5m) in funding during the first half of 2019, a decrease of 16.8% year-on-year attributed to its portfolio businesses nearing self-sustainability.
Cash realisations from its portfolio climbed three-fold to $9m from $3m over the same period, while the fair value of its investments remained more or less unchanged at $1.4bn, compared to $1.5bn last year.
IP Group captured further efficiencies – of about $10.6m annually – having ended its management of Imperial College London’s tech transfer office Imperial Innovations, which it had taken control of upon purchasing its fellow commercialisation firm Touchstone Innovations in late 2017.
The firm also claimed to have maintained “strong” liquidity, although its cash and deposits availability shrank by about 40% year-on-year to $204m.
Highlights for IP Group during the period included a doubling of sales revenue at its genetic sequencing portfolio company Oxford Nanopore, which opened a new production plant to meet demand for its technology and is reportedly looking to float its shares.
IP Group also marked funding rounds sized at $52.5m and $32.9m for University of Cambridge-founded oncology genomics technology developer Inivata and fraud detection technology spinout Featurespace respectively, in addition to a $26m deal for solar technology producer Azuri Technologies.
Alan Aubrey, chief executive of IP Group, said: “The group has made good operational and strategic progress, notwithstanding the significant decline in the group’s share price during the period. In particular, as the portfolio matures our business is approaching self-sustainability.”
“This, combined with a continued focus and rationalisation of our portfolio, tight cost control, and a strong cash position, enables the Group to fund its current priorities from existing capital resources.