LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Polar Capital Holdings posted its interim results for the six months to 30 September on Thursday, with assets under management at period end of £7.7bn or $9.9bn, up from £7.3bn or $10.4bn at the end of March.
The AIM-traded company reported fund outflows of £763m, offset by market and currency movements of £1.1bn.

Core operating profit, excluding performance fees, was £9.2m, down from £12.4m a year ago, while operating profit before share-based payments reduced to £11.2m from £13.3m.

Pre-tax profit was £9.1m, falling from £11.7m.

Basic earnings per share slid to 7.40p from 10.44p, and adjusted diluted earnings per share were 9.33p, compared to 11.46p in the prior period.

The board declared an interim dividend per ordinary share of 5.5p, in line with last year, to be paid in January 2017.

Shareholders' funds were £65.4m, down from £69.7m, including cash and investments of £71.8m, down from £75.1m.

"This was certainly a challenging period to navigate with considerable uncertainty leading up to the EU referendum and considerable volatility in markets after the result," said chief executive Tim Woolley.

"Long-only equity funds in general experienced large net redemptions over the period and we were not immune from such industry conditions.

"Despite the overall challenging market conditions, a number of our funds including Biotechnology, Insurance, Global Alpha, European Income ex UK, Global Convertible Bond and UK Absolute did see net inflows over the period."

Woolley said fund inflows had picked up markedly since the US election but it remained too early to suggest it is a reversal of the difficult industry conditions experienced through the first seven months of Polar Capital's financial year.

"Overall we have become somewhat more positive on the outlook for our business over the second half of the financial year.

"We also expect to maintain the dividend for the current financial year."

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:

• DIGG
• FACEBOOK
• STUMBLEUPON
• MIXX
• YAHOO BUZZ
• DELICIOUS
• REDDIT
• NEWSVINE