Polar Capital (POLR) has been investing in new management teams and, although none joined in the reported period, two key players were signed up in April with a view to building a multi-product UK value franchise.
However, the asset manager couldn't do much about the extreme levels of volatility in the period covered, and this explained a further drop in assets under management to $10.4bn (£7.3bn) from $12.3bn a year earlier. The principal investment classes to suffer redemptions included Japanese funds, emerging markets and European long/short funds, as the investment strategies fell out of favour. Japan-focused funds, which peaked at 43 per cent of assets under management, now account for just 21 per cent. Inevitably, performance fees fell from £12.2m to £7.2m.
On the bright side, seven of the group's 11 strategies saw net inflows and, while short-term returns were mixed, the long-term performance saw 14 out of 18 mutual funds outperforming their benchmarks. There was also some comfort from a maintained dividend, although this is now not covered by after-tax earnings, although Polar currently holds net cash worth around 54p a share on which it can draw.
Given the turmoil generated by the EU referendum result, analysts at Numis have put their forecasts under review.
| POLAR CAPITAL (POLR) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 300p | MARKET VALUE: | £273m | |
| TOUCH: | 290-300p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 490p | LOW: 269p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 8.3% | PE RATIO: | 14 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 83p | NET CASH: | £48.8m | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 39.9 | 9.6 | 9.5 | 9 |
| 2013 | 51.7 | 15.3 | 15.0 | 13 |
| 2014 | 91.8 | 32.8 | 30.8 | 25 |
| 2015 | 96.2 | 31.1 | 27.5 | 25 |
| 2016 | 84.3 | 24.2 | 21.2 | 25 |
| % change | -12 | -22 | -23 | - |
Ex-div: 7 Jul Payment: 15 Jul | ||||
