(Sharecast News) - Shares in 3i Group were sliding on Thursday morning, after it reported a total return of £5.05bn for the year ended 31 March on Thursday, representing a 25% return on opening shareholders' funds, up from 23% a year earlier.
Net asset value per share rose to 2,542p from 2,085p, despite a 27p foreign exchange loss.

The FTSE 100 company declared a total dividend of 73.0p for the year, including a proposed second payment of 42.5p.

It said the strong performance was driven by the private equity portfolio, which delivered a 26% gross investment return of £5.1bn.

Benelux-focussed discount retailer Action was again the dominant contributor, generating a return of £4.55bn, with 22% annual revenue growth and 29% EBITDA growth in 2024.

Like-for-like sales grew 6.8% in the early months of 2025, while 76 new stores were added to the network.

3i said it invested £1.18bn during the year, including £768m to increase its stake in Action and additional capital for Constellation, WaterWipes, Royal Sanders and ten23 health.

The group also realised £659m from exits, including Nexeye and WP, both at 2.0x or greater returns.

Infrastructure returns were more muted, contributing £52m, or 3%, amid softer share price performance from 3i Infrastructure plc.

The group said it ended the year with net debt of £771m and a gearing of 3%.

"2025 was another successful year for 3i, continuing our track record of consistently delivering strong shareholder returns, against what remains a challenging macroeconomic and geopolitical backdrop," said chief executive officer Simon Borrows.

"Our 2025 result was underpinned by the powerful compounding growth from our long-term hold assets Action and Royal Sanders, and by the performance of several other larger portfolio companies."

That, Borrows said, reinforced the company's "conviction" in allocating additional capital to its best performing assets.

"We remain confident in our ability to compound growth across the portfolio in the years to come."

At 0832 BST, shares in 3i Group were down 7.79% at 3,870p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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