London, May 14, 2026, 09:09 BST
3i Group plc’s shares tumbled in London trading Thursday, slammed by news of sharply weaker sales growth at Action, the investment company’s largest asset. That disappointment completely eclipsed a £750 million buyback announcement. The shares opened down as much as 24%—a rout not seen since 2009—and later hovered 18.36% lower at 1,976.50 pence, according to 3i’s own investor-relations page.
The importance of the selloff comes down to Action’s sheer size in 3i’s holdings. At March 31, 3i put a £23.74 billion price tag on its 65.4% slice of the Dutch non-food discounter. That’s out of a £31.82 billion total portfolio value—meaning Action makes up close to three quarters of the group’s assets by value.
Investors are probing if Action’s growth narrative still holds up. Like-for-like sales—excluding the bump from store openings—came in just 2.4% higher for the year through May 10, down sharply from 6.8% in the prior-year stretch. France and Germany, both flat so far this year.
3i posted a 22% total return for the year ended March 31. Net asset value came in at 3,030 pence per share, up from 2,542 pence. The total dividend climbed to 84.5 pence a share. A second dividend of 48 pence is set for July, pending shareholder approval.
The board kicked off a buyback plan of as much as £750 million, set to begin Thursday and run through Dec. 31, 2026 at the latest. According to a regulatory filing, Barclays is handling the market purchases. All repurchased shares will be cancelled, trimming down 3i’s share capital.
The Action numbers didn’t win over investors. Net sales for the first three periods of 2026 climbed to €4.01 billion, up from €3.52 billion a year ago, with operating EBITDA at €498 million versus €464 million. Yet that week-19 sales update flagged a noticeably weaker pace after March.
Citi analysts flagged that the 2.4% like-for-like number points to flat year-over-year performance between weeks 12 and 19, citing data from Investing.com. They also noted Germany—home to around 20% of Action’s stores—will probably draw investor attention.
Chief Executive Simon Borrows described FY2026 as “another good year” for 3i, though he cautioned that the market backdrop was still “complex with heightened geopolitical risk”. Chair David Hutchison noted the second half proved “challenging for shareholders” after the share price pulled back from what he described as a substantial premium to net asset value. London South East
The risk is straightforward: if sluggish traffic in France and Germany persists into the summer, Action could have a tough time holding onto the premium investors have baked in. According to 3i, a shift of 1.0 in Action’s post-discount valuation multiple—a key metric for earnings pricing—would swing the value of 3i’s stake up or down by £1.5 billion.
Competition isn’t exactly soft. Action is plotting a U.S. push for late 2027 or early 2028, but Aldi, Lidl, and Dollar Tree already crowd that space with bargain options. John Mercer at Coresight Research told CoStar the U.S. could be Action’s “greatest challenge yet.” Neil Saunders of GlobalData flagged the “big question”—how will Action carve out a niche? CoStar
Beyond Action, 3i reported another strong year for Royal Sanders, while its infrastructure arm posted a £106 million gross investment return—this figure captures both gains and income on investments. At the end of March, the group’s liquidity stood at £1.86 billion, with net debt at £547 million and gearing at 2%, calculated as net debt versus net assets.
Right now, the buyback hands 3i a tool to bolster capital returns. The bigger issue: Are Action’s weaker same-store sales just a blip from weather and tough comparisons, as the company claims, or is this the first hint that shoppers in its key European markets are pulling back more than anticipated?
