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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“This is a very strong signal of our confidence in our earnings,” Chief Executive Peter Clarke told Reuters.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“(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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n