3i Group (III) shares jumped nearly 10%, or 225p, to £24.98 after a brief update on Action, the discount retailer that makes up three quarters of the £25bn private equity fund’s net asset value. Like-for-like sales grew 3.3% from 31 March to 21 June, slightly below the 3.6% of the previous quarter as reported at the full-year results in May when the shares plunged 19% in response to the economic uncertainty caused by the Iran war and plans to expand Action into the US. “New store openings of 105 are on track with Action’s expansion plans for 2026. Action is set for a good quarter of profit growth and had a cash balance of €699m as at 21 June 2026 after the payment of a €450m dividend to all shareholders in May,” chief executive Simon Borrows told shareholders at 3i’s annual general meeting. He said the rest of the private equity portfolio continued to demonstrate “good momentum in line with our expectations”.
Sirius Real Estate (SRE), the £222m Anglo-German industrials property fund, has sold two “sub-scale” multi-use business parks in the Sheffield area for £5.3m, 3% above book value, and recycled the money into buying three self-storage development sites in Leicestershire, Bedfordshire and Merton in London for £12.6m, all of which are subject to planning. The additional cost will be funded by further disposals of non-core assets this year. The Leicestershire and Bedfordshire sites will open in spring 2027 and Merton is expected to complete in 2028. Each project is forecast to generate double digit returns said chief executive Andrew Coombs.
Glenstone REIT, the Alternative Income REIT (AIRE) shareholder that made a £56.3m cash bid for the company this month, says the number of shares held by Hawksmoor Investment Management that remain committed to its 70p per share offer has fallen to 5.61% from 6.2%. Hawksmoor sold 68,200 AIRE shares at prices ranging from 68p to 68.4p. A further 382,164 shares held on behalf of Hawksmoor clients no longer supported Glenstone, reducing the total covered by its letter of intent to 4,523,000 from 4,973,364. Glenstone owns 24% of AIRE’s shares and Adam Smith, a Glenstone director who sits on AIRE’s board, holds 2.4%.
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