The share price of Man Group (LSE: EMG) — the world’s largest publicly traded independent alternative investment manager — is currently up over 8%, following publication of the company’s interim results for the first half of 2015.
The group’s funds under management grew 8%, to now stand at $78.8bn, although gross sales dropped 15%, to $10.5bn, compared with H1 last year. Redemptions increased 36%, from $9.6bn in H1 2014 to $13.1bn in H1 this year — attributed largely to some investors in the Japan CoreAlpha strategy redeeming “following a long period of strong absolute and relative performance” — but net outflows reduced marginally, down to $2.6bn from £2.8bn in the same period a year ago.
The company’s adjusted profit before tax soared 89% to $280m and its adjusted earnings per share almost doubled to 13.9 cents, up from 7.1 cents in H1 2014. An interim dividend of 5.4 cents per share has been recommended, which is an increase of 27.5% on last year’s 4 cents.
Commenting on the results, CEO Manny Roman said
“Markets remain very challenging and accordingly we remain cautious in our outlook for the remainder of the year. As ever, we remain committed to investing in talent, research and technology and building the optimal environment to deliver superior risk adjusted performance for our clients which will ultimately translate into the delivery of value for our shareholders.”
Despite today’s jump, at 163.5p, Man Group’s share price is up just 1.25% in the year to date, trailing well-behind the the 8% gain made by the FTSE 250 index. And the longer-term story makes for uncomfortable reading for shareholders, who are nursing a 30% loss on Man Group over the past 5 years, during which time the FTSE 250 index has increased by 75%.