"Every time there is a swing in emerging markets, we in the West tend to exaggerate the difference," says City of London Investment Group (CLIG) chief executive Barry Olliff, referring to concerns surrounding a slowdown in Chinese growth. Since the asset manager has neither lost nor gained any clients since the end of its financial year in June, Mr Olliff has some reason to be confident.
Funds under management, which stood at $4.2bn (£2.7bn) on 30 June 2015, have averaged $3.8bn in the new financial year so far. But given the long-term approach of the investors in City's closed-end fund strategies - particularly coupled with the fund manager's consistent track record of benchmark outperformance - a decline in the value of client assets shouldn't alarm shareholders too much.
Of greater concern is the imminent departure of board member Carlos Yuste, who manages many of the firm's US clients. City is dividing up his responsibilities internally rather than seeking a replacement. Mr Olliff also plans to step down - albeit not until 2020 - and used the results to announce his sale of a further 1.5m shares priced between 400p and 450p.
Analysts at Canaccord Genuity are forecasting adjusted pre-tax profits of £10.7m and EPS of 32p for the 2015-16 financial year, up from £8.8m and 25.7p for FY2015.
CITY OF LONDON INVESTMENT GROUP (CLIG) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 340p | MARKET VALUE: | £91m | |
| TOUCH: | 325-337p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 380p | LOW: 251p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 7% | PE RATIO: | 13 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 51p | NET CASH: | £10.2m | |
| Year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 36.5 | 13.1 | 35.1 | 24 |
| 2012 | 34.1 | 11.5 | 33.8 | 24 |
| 2013 | 29.4 | 8.9 | 24.9 | 24 |
| 2014† | 24.2 | 7.4 | 21.1 | 24 |
| 2015 | 25.4 | 8.9 | 26.4 | 24 |
| % change | +5 | +20 | +25 | - |
Ex-div: 8 Oct Payment: 30 Oct †13 months, restated | ||||
