Shares in 3i (III) rallied 11.5% to £35.10 after the private equity giant said that sales at discount non-food retailer Action, by far its biggest investment, have recovered from an Autumn slowdown that had investors worried.
| Share price: £35.10 | PE: 5.2 |
| Market cap: £31.05bn | Yield: 2.7% |
Consumer caution in France impacted the Dutch discounter’s performance in 2025, dragging like-for-like growth down from 10.3% in 2024 to 4.9% in 2025.
The encouraging news is 2026 has ‘stated well’ with same-store sales turning positive in France.
Back in Action
In today’s (29 Jan) third quarter update, 3i reported a robust start to the new year with Action’s like-for-like sales up 6.1% in the first four weeks.
In France, Action’s like-for-like sales were negative in October and November before recovering to a flat performance in December 2025 with good seasonal sales. Reassuringly, France like-for-likes turned positive to the tune of 2.1% in the first four weeks of January 2026.
Action added a record 384 net new stores in the year, representing 13% store growth, with 3i stressing that new store performance ‘continues to exceed expectations’.
A specialist investors in private equity and infrastructure, 3i said its NAV (net asset value) per share rose 5.6% to £30.17 as at 31 December 2025, from £28.57 on 30 September 2025, with positive forex movements contributing 78p of the 160p gain.
Long-term compounder
On 13 November 2025, 3i’s shares suffered one of the biggest one-day moves in the firm’s long and venerable history after chief executive Simon Borrows warned the group was being ‘cautious in the deployment of capital into new investment’.
Borrows also said he was ‘mindful that both the transaction market and the wider environment are likely to remain challenging into the second half of our financial year’.
Today’s commentary from Borrows was more upbeat and helped to stoke a positive market reaction. ‘In the first nine months of FY2026, 3i generated £1.8 billion of realised proceeds and dividends from its portfolio, while investing £1.6 billion,’ said Borrows.
‘We also delivered strong growth from a number of our other leading consumer and private label portfolio companies, including Royal Sanders and Audley Travel.’
He added: ‘We have made a good start to the final quarter of our financial year to 31 March 2026 and are set for another strong year of compounding growth.’
Read the press release here: https://www.3i.com/investor-relations/
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