A portfolio update with a side of stock buybacks
IP Group’s latest annual results read like a biotech venture portfolio’s victory lap, minus the champagne fountain. The company said NAV per share rose 13% to 110.4p, with closing NAV at £975.1m for the year ended 31 December 2025.
The Pfizer-shaped boost
The biggest headline-grabber was the £128.2m recognized for future royalty and milestone income after Pfizer bought Metsera. In plain English: IP Group’s exposure to Pfizer’s obesity-drug franchise got a lot more valuable, and the accounting team could finally put a number on it.
That’s nice for the balance sheet, and it matters for investors because these kinds of revaluations can supercharge reported NAV even when the underlying portfolio is still doing its usual early-stage, lumpy-startup thing.
Cash in, cash out, repeat
The company also said it pulled in £68.1m of exit proceeds, invested £70.5m across 31 companies, and raised £914m in capital for portfolio companies. Translation: IP Group is still playing both sides of the VC chessboard — harvesting wins where it can, while keeping fresh capital flowing into the next batch of hopeful science bets.
And then there’s the buyback. IP Group completed a £75m share repurchase programme, retiring 9% of its share capital. That’s the kind of move investors usually like when a stock trades at a discount to NAV, because it can make the remaining slice of the pie a little fatter.
What to watch next
The company also stuck to its target of delivering more than £250m of exits between 2025 and the end of 2027. That’s the real test now: can IP Group keep turning paper value into actual cash, or will this be one of those “great on slides, patience required in real life” stories?
Big picture: the results are a nice combo platter of higher NAV, buybacks, and exit momentum — but for a company built on long-dated bets, the proof still lives in the cash flow.