Analysts at three brokerages maintain 'buy' ratings after strong full-year results
IP Group PLC (LSE:IPO), the London-listed investor that commercialises intellectual property from leading universities, reported a 13% rise in net asset value (NAV) per share to 110.4p for the year ended December 2025, driven by a licensing deal tied to Pfizer's $10 billion acquisition of obesity drug developer Metsera.
The company's shares rose 11% on Tuesday to 54.7p. But that still left them trading at a discount of roughly 50% to reported NAV, a gap that analysts at Berenberg, Deutsche Numis and Cantor all described as unwarranted.
The headline NAV figure of £975.1 million was boosted by IP Group's recognition of £128.2 million as the discounted value of future royalty and milestone payments it expects to receive from Metsera's obesity drug portfolio, which is now part of Pfizer's development pipeline.
The Metsera asset, which relates to a portfolio of injectable and oral obesity drug candidates, including lead compound PF'3944, is now the single largest holding in IP Group's portfolio, overtaking Oxford Nanopore Technologies, the genome-sequencing company, which was valued at £102 million at year-end.
Positive phase IIb data for PF'3944 were reported during 2025 and a global phase III trial was initiated in late 2025, with Pfizer expecting data from two additional pipeline studies in 2026.
This adds to what Cantor analysts described as significant embedded optionality in IP Group's economic interest, which they estimate at a low single-digit royalty rate on net sales.
The results were not uniformly positive across the portfolio: Pulmocide, a respiratory drug developer, was written down by £24.1 million to just £0.6 million following the failure of a phase III clinical trial, while First Light Fusion, a nuclear fusion company, was reduced by £14.6 million after a down round.
IP Group ended the period with cash and deposits of £211 million, after generating £68.1 million in disposal proceeds and completing £45.7 million of share buybacks, which concluded a previously authorised £75 million buyback programme.
The company has since accumulated a further £30 million of cash from realisations, which its board said would be directed to shareholder returns, with details of a new buyback programme to be provided in due course.
Deutsche Numis raised its price target to 110p from 103p, aligning it with the current reported NAV, while Berenberg maintained its 100p target and Cantor held its 'overweight' rating with a 93p target.
All three brokerages argued that the discount to NAV remained unjustified given the cash position, reduced cost base, and the potential scale of future royalty income from Pfizer's obesity programme, which the pharmaceutical giant has projected could address a market worth $150 billion by 2030.