Does anyone have a feel for how high 3i could go, or any information that might help my research?

StockMarketWire.com
3i Group said Thursday total returned increased 10% in the first half of the year driven by 'good' performance from larger private equity investments.

For the six months to 30 September, total return rose 10% of £728m and net asset value per share of rose 7.2% to 776p from 724p seen at the March end.

The private equity portfolio produced a gross investment return of £667m, or 11%, driven by growth across larger investments, the company said.

Two new private equity investments were completed in the first half, totalling £245m, in Royal Sanders and International Cruise and Excursions.

Operating profit before tax rose 8.7% to £713m.

The interim dividend of 15.0p was in line with the company's new dividend policy announced in May.

The company said it would continue to focus on delivering mid-to-high-teens returns for shareholders through the cycle.

'This was another good half for 3i. We generated a total return of 10%, completed the sale and our subsequent 35% reinvestment into Scandlines, invested in two new Private Equity portfolio companies and advised 3iN on the acquisition of three new investments,' said Simon Borrows, 3i's Chief Executive.

'We remain confident in the growth plans across our investments and will maintain our focus on active management to maximise value for our shareholders and co-investors. We have good momentum across our portfolio, but remain cautious about the pricing of new investment in general and are focusing our origination efforts particularly on bilateral processes and on our buy-and-build platforms.'

Infrastructure investor 3i Infrastructure updated the market on its third quarter on Wednesday, reporting that it continued to perform in line with expectations, and was delivering a "good" level of income. The FTSE 250 firm said total portfolio income and non-income cash was £25.9m for the three months ended 31 December. It said it was on track to deliver its target dividend of 8.65p per share for the 2019 financial year, with the full-year dividend expected to be covered with a "significant" surplus.