Man Group (EMG) reached an inflection point in 2017, growing turnover for the first time in six years. The hedge fund provider gained record net inflows of $12.8bn (£9.2bn), up from just $1.9bn in the previous year. Together with market returns, that took funds under management up more than a third to $109bn.
While management fees were up 7 per cent, performance fees more than trebled. However, an increase in inflows to lower-margin strategies, plus a rise in institutional fund of funds business, meant the revenue fee margin declined by 11 basis points to 0.76 per cent. Alternatives gained the lion’s share of new business at $11.7bn. That was primarily into total return strategies, which include emerging market debt and real estate.
Its long-only products put in a more mixed performance. Its systematic strategies – previously quant long-only – suffered net outflows of $0.6bn. That was primarily due to clients banking equity gains during the fourth quarter, after a strong year. However, discretionary long-only recorded $1.8bn in net inflows, predominately into its Japan core Alpha, emerging market fixed income and continental European equity strategies.
Analysts at Numis expect adjusted pre-tax profits of $375m during the 12 months to 31 December 2018, giving EPS of 19.6¢ (from $384m and 20.3¢ in 2017).
| MAN GROUP (EMG) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 164.8p | MARKET VALUE: | £2.69bn | |
| TOUCH: | 164.7-164.85p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 219p | LOW: 132p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.7% | PE RATIO: | 11 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 105¢* | NET CASH: | $206m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover ($bn) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢)* |
| 2013 | 1.16 | 56 | 3.0 | 22.0 |
| 2014 | 1.15 | 384 | 20.8 | 7.9 |
| 2015 | 1.14 | 184 | 10.1 | 10.2 |
| 2016 | 0.83 | -272 | -15.8 | 9.0 |
| 2017 | 1.07 | 272 | 15.5 | 10.8 |
| % change | +29 | - | - | +20 |
| Ex-div: | 26 Apr | |||
| Payment: | 18 May | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of $1.04bn, or 64¢ a share | ||||
