LONDON, June 30, 2026, 22:02 BST
- 3i Group ended the session at 2,486p, down 0.4%. The FTSE 100 added 0.12%.
- The stock was around 18% under 3i’s March NAV per share and about 29% below the company’s median analyst NAV estimate for March 2027.
- 3i has spent around £254 million of its £750 million buyback so far, with about 2% of voting rights left to buy at Tuesday’s close.
- 3i got a clearer read on Action after the June trading update. Like-for-like sales were up 3.3% year to date as of June 21, following the May selloff.
3i Group plc (LON:III) slipped Tuesday, with shares finishing below both net asset value and the analyst NAV consensus the company released. That drop came even after more than 11 million shares were bought back.
3i shares were quoted at 2,486p, down 10p, or 0.4%, at 18:00 BST. Barclays data had the FTSE 100 up 0.12% and UK financials rising 1.01%. 3i trailed the market and sector for the session.
The key issue for investors is the gap between 3i’s share price and its portfolio valuations. The company posted a diluted NAV per share of 3,030p as of March 31. Its consensus page, which uses 12 analyst estimates dated from March 12 to June 29, puts the median March 2027 NAV at 3,486p. As of Tuesday, shares traded roughly 18% below the March NAV and about 29% under that 2027 median, according to those numbers.
| Measure | Pence per share | Gap to Tuesday price |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday close | 2,486 | — |
| March 31 reported NAV | 3,030 | 18% below |
| 2027 analyst median NAV estimate | 3,486 | 29% below |
| 2027 analyst low NAV | 3,150 | 21% below |
| 2027 analyst high NAV | 3,726 | 33% below |
The gap is key because 3i’s valuation is still all about Action, the European discount chain that powered most of last year’s portfolio gain. In a June 25 AGM update, 3i said Action’s like-for-like sales are up 3.3% so far this year at week 25, with 105 new stores added. Action had 699 million euros in cash after paying a 450 million euro dividend in May.
June numbers topped the May update, when 3i said Action’s like-for-like sales were up 2.4% for the year to week 19 and 69 more stores had opened. The extra six weeks gave investors fresher data after Action’s May-driven selloff.
CEO Simon Borrows called FY2026 “another good year for 3i” in the May results, but flagged a “complex” market backdrop and said 3i expects inflation to pick up in coming months. 3i
3i is now giving a second data point for its buyback. The company said Monday it bought 1,575,726 shares from June 22 to June 26, with volume-weighted average prices ranging from £22.4372 to £25.3430. Since the start of the buyback, 3i has picked up 11,330,230 shares for cancellation at a total cost of £253.6 million before fees and taxes.
| Share-capital item | Latest figure | Investor read-through |
|---|---|---|
| Buyback programme size | £750 million | Came out with May numbers |
| Bought back so far | £253.6 million | Roughly 34% spent |
| Shares bought so far | 11.33 million | Represents about 1.1% of voting rights now |
| Implied average buyback price | £22.38 | That’s about 11% under Tuesday’s finish |
| Remaining buyback capacity | £496.4 million | Enough for about 20 million shares at Tuesday’s close |
| Current voting rights | 1.013 billion | Used as denominator in ownership disclosures |
Recent share-count filings highlight the steady dilution versus the buyback. 3i reported Tuesday that 2,433 new ordinary shares started trading under an existing block admission, putting the total admitted shares at 1,013,381,733. A filing on total voting rights matched that number and confirmed 3i has no ordinary shares held in treasury.
Directors and other PDMRs picked up 445,136 performance share awards under the 2020 plan, according to a separate Tuesday filing. Simon Borrows was allocated 158,501 shares. The shares were granted at no cost, but come with performance targets. At Tuesday’s close, the awards carried a face value of around £11.1 million, with Borrows’ stake worth about £3.9 million. The figures are based on the filing and closing price.
3i said its FY2026 total return came in at £5.30 billion, or 22% of opening shareholders’ funds. Action booked a gross investment return of £4.51 billion. 3i said Action paid £1.19 billion in proceeds and dividends to the group over the year.
3i will report its Q1 performance update on July 23, which is the next event on the company calendar.
