Polar Capital confident despite fall in assets, performance fees

Specialist active asset manager Polar Capital said in an update on Thursday that at the end of 2022, its assets under management totalled £18.5bn.

The AIM-traded firm said that was a 16% fall from the £22.1bn it recorded at the end of March.

During the nine-month period, assets under management decreased by net redemptions of £1.1bn, outflows from fund closures of £0.5bn, and a £2bn decrease related to market movement and fund performance.

Looking at its net performance fee profit, meanwhile, Polar Capital said for the nine months ended 31 December it totalled £1.9m.

That was down from £4.3m for the same period a year earlier, while its net performance fee profit for the year ended 31 March 2022 was £4.1m.

“There has been continued demand and inflows into the global insurance, healthcare blue-chip, smart energy and emerging market stars funds, with combined net inflows of £190m across these funds in the quarter,” said chief executive officer Gavin Rochussen.

“A combination of the continued risk off market sentiment leading into the end of the calendar year, net outflows, fund closures and fund performance meant that our assets under management at the end of the nine-month period were £18.5bn compared to £18.8bn at the end of the previous quarter and £22.1bn at the end of March.

“Total net outflows for the quarter were £304m.”

Rochussen said that during the quarter, the rate of outflows from the open-ended technology funds continued to decline, with £217m of outflows compared to £252m in the prior quarter, and £380m in the first quarter of this financial year.

“While crystallised net performance fee profits for the period to 31 December were muted this year, long-term performance remains strong with 64% of our funds and 78% of assets under management having outperformed their respective benchmarks since inception.

“We remain confident that with our diverse range of differentiated, active specialist fund strategies we are well-positioned to perform for our clients and shareholders over the long term.”

At 1129 GMT, shares in Polar Capital Holdings were up 1.2% at 506p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.