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Novo Annual Review 2016
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2016
in brief the novo
group novo a/s is the controlling shareholder in novo nordisk a/s and novozymes a/s. both companies increased profit and dividend pay-outs during 2016, in addition to continuing their share buy-back programmes. furthermore, nnit continued to develop its business with increased profits and dividend pay-outs. all three companies faced challenging business environments in 2016, resulting in share price declines for both novo nordisk, which decreased by 36%, and novozymes, which decreased 26%. nevertheless, income from the novo group increased to dkk 7.1 billion in 2016, representing an increase of 67% compared to 2015. in 2016, novo nordisk paid its annual dividend in connection with the annual general meeting (agm) in march 2016. moreover, in 2016 novo nordisk decided to introduce an interim dividend pay-out and consequently paid this in august 2016. due to novo nordisk?s introduction of interim dividends in 2016, novo experienced an increase in dividends received. going forward, novo nordisk will pay dividends twice annually: an interim dividend in connection with the first half-year report in august, and a final dividend in connection with the agm in march. life science investments
it is novo?s vision to be recognised as a world-leading life science investor with a focus on creating long-term value. novo divides its life science investments into three distinct areas: large investments focuses on established companies; novo ventures focuses on venture investments primarily in the us and europe; and novo seeds focuses on early start ups primarily in the nordic region. by the end of 2016, novo had dkk 37.7 billion allocated to life science investments. large investments in 2016, large investments added synlab and ert to its portfolio. both investments were carried out in partnership with private equity firms, synlab with cinven and ert with nordic capital. the portfolio value in 2016 was adversely impacted by the unfavourable development in the share prices of chr. hansen holding a/s and ophthotech corp. at the end of 2016, our large investments portfolio comprised 10 companies, of which eight are located in europe and two in the us. the portfolio consists of majority positions in sonion and xellia, both headquartered in europe, and minority positions in chr. hansen, symphogen, synlab, orexo, veloxis, btg (all european) and ert and inogen (both in the us). by end of the year the large investments portfolio was valued at dkk 31.5 billion. venture investments as in previous years, novo worked to further consolidate its position as a major international investor within life science ventures. in 2016, novo invested in 14 new companies, made follow- on investments in 29 of our existing portfolio companies, and successfully exited six companies. our investments this year totalled dkk 2,091 million, exit proceeds amounted to dkk 759 million, and the value of ipoed companies came to dkk 2,001 million. by the end of the year, the value of our venture portfolio reached dkk 5.9 billion. seed investments to enable early investments in the life science area, novo runs a seed programme. in 2016, we invested dkk 149 million in 19 early-stage life science companies and the value of the portfolio by the end of 2016 was dkk 291 million. novo assists the novo nordisk foundation in a pre-seed programme that aims to identify and support academic research with commercial potential. in 2016, eight projects received grants from the pre-seed programme. financial investments in 2016, we continued the strategy of a broad diversification with a focus on equities. by year end, the portfolio reached an accumulated value of dkk 38.7 billion. 6 novo a/s 2016
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