Man Group warns as biggest hedge fund falters
By James Mackintosh
Published: September 29 2008 08:31 | Last updated: September 29 2008 08:31
Man Group warned profits would fall for its half year that ends Tuesday as the largest listed hedge fund manager saw lower performance at its biggest fund.
Shares in Man hit their lowest in three years, falling 68¼p, more than 18 per cent, to 305½p, as funds under management tumbled $4.3bn in six months to $70.3bn (£38.1bn).
Man said earnings per share excluding exceptional items were likely to be 5 per cent down on the 34.1 cents achieved in the same period last year, hit by the weak performance of AHL, its biggest hedge fund. Net performance fees would fall about 40 per cent, Man said, from $283m a year before.
However, Peter Clarke, chief executive, said sales had remained strong and the rate of client withdrawals was not up significantly. “To have sold as much product in the second quarter as the first quarter in the teeth of these financial markets is testament to the strength of our distribution,” he said.
AHL, which tries to catch trends in commodity and other futures prices, has given back almost all of its gains for the year after commodity prices crashed over the summer then unexpectedly spiked again. For the year to September 24, AHL was up 0.9 per cent.
Man’s main funds of hedge funds have all fallen, with Chicago-based Glenwood down 5.8 per cent, Man Global Strategies off 10.8 per cent and RMF down 2.5 per cent, amid a general rout in the hedge fund sector.
Analysts cut profit forecasts further after downgrades last week. Numis Securities, which lopped 11 per cent off its prediction of next year’s earnings, said it expected Man to benefit long term as the hedge fund sector became less competitive.
Mr Clarke said hedge funds would face more regulation as market watchdogs increased oversight of the financial world after bank collapses. But he said Man – already highly regulated – was likely to cope better than most with that, as well as having enough cash to be able to buy stakes in other funds.
Man spent about £9.4m buying back 3m of its shares at 312.2p on Monday night.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 |
