Reuters- Man Group, the world’s largest-listed hedge fund firm, posted a 21 profit rise on Thursday and indicated confidence in its earnings prospects with a 130 percent increase in its first-halfdividend.
Pretax profit on continuing operations in the six months to the end of September rose to $820 million (390 million pounds) from $679 million a year ago.
The dividend, which will now be based on the group’s performance fees as well as its management fee, was set at 16.8 cents, up from 7.3 cents.
“This is a very strong signal of our confidence in our earnings,” Chief Executive Peter Clarke told Reuters.
Assets under management at the end of October were estimated to be over $70 billion, up from $68 billion at the end of September. Net management fee income rose 17 percent to $537 million and net performance fee income was up 28 percent at $283 million.
“(The) dividend payout is strongly increased and (the) capital position in unrivalled in (the) financials space. We reiterate our ‘buy’ recommendation, target price 690 pence,” Citigroup analyst Daniel Garrod said in a note.
Fund sales were $8 billion, down from $10.6 billion a year ago, although Clarke said this reflected a large product launch in the comparable period.
