Impax CFO sells on the back of AuM gains

The specialist investor, which focusses on socially responsible themes, appears to be operating in a segment of the economy impervious to the ill-effects of Covid-19. Impax saw inflows amounting to £963m in the three months to June, bringing assets under management (AuM) to £18.1bn, an increase of 25.8 per cent for the period, three-quarters of which was attributable to positive market returns and foreign exchange dynamics.

Comments from the company’s founder and chief executive, Ian Simm, give ballast to the notion that “investor interest in the transition to a more sustainable economy continues to gather momentum”. It is hard to argue otherwise in view of capital that headed Impax’s way through its Q3 to the end of June.

The trend has not gone unnoticed. Shares in the company have risen by 43 per cent over the past 12 months, but we closed out our long-running tip in January (Buy, 97.8p, 10 Aug 2017) when they were changing hands at 388p.

At the time, Charlie Ridge, Impax’s chief financial officer, had just unloaded almost £100,000-worth of shares in the company, and his wife has recently followed suit, albeit on a much grander scale, by parting with 450,000 shares at 365p, generating £1.64m in the process.

You certainly could not characterise Impax as an outlier given the proliferation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) mandates. But it is still difficult to compare like-for-like metrics in this segment of the market, though Impax clearly has no trouble in attracting new investors.