3i Group plc (LON:III) will be holding a capital markets seminar this morning, involving a presentation from the management team of Action, our largest portfolio company. A live webcast of the seminar will take place at 10:00 (UK time). To register for the webcast, please visit https://www.3i.com/investor-relations. An on-demand webcast of the seminar will also be available by the end of the day.
As disclosed in our Q3 performance update, in its 2022 financial year Action generated net sales of €8,859 million and operating EBITDA of €1,205 million, 30% and 46% respectively higher than in 2021. Like-for-like sales growth was 18.1% and the business added 280 stores in the year. Sales leverage and good cost discipline were the main drivers behind the increased EBITDA margin of 13.6%.
Action has seen a strong start to 2023 across all its geographies. In the period to the end of week 11, net sales were €2.09 billion, 37% ahead of the same period in 2022. Like-for-like sales growth in the first 11 weeks was 24.8% with growth in transactions accounting for approximately 90% of the strong performance. Cash generation has also seen good growth with cash and cash equivalents as at 19 March 2023 of €802 million. The business has added 23 stores in the year to date. Action is planning to make another dividend payment to shareholders in the last week of March. More details on Action’s performance will be available in the presentation.
We have also recently completed our semi-annual portfolio company review meetings. 3i Group’s portfolio is demonstrating good overall resilience with the majority of companies showing good momentum into 2023. Our full year results will be published in May.
