Assets under management halve at Polar

24th Jun 2009 08:00

Assets under management at Polar Capital halved in the year to end-March, but picked up by 4.1% in the following two months.The investment management firm’s assets under management (AUM) stood at $1.48bn at the end of March 2009, down 52% from the $3.1bn under management at the end of March 2008.Around $540m of the reduction in AUM was caused by the closure of the firm’s successful Paragon fund in the last quarter of the financial year following the decision of the investment manager to resign to take some time away from the industry.At the end of May 2009, AUM had risen 4.1% from the end-March level to $1.54bn, with the company’s chief executive, Mark Kary, claiming “there are some encouraging signs that industry conditions have stabilised and are beginning to improve.”The group’s core operating profit, excluding performance fees, fell 78% to £1.3m from £6m a year earlier, while pre-tax profit fell 17% to £12.1m from £14.5m.“The significant reduction in our AUM in the second half of last year will reduce the level of fund management fees and impact performance fees,” Kary warned, adding that the company’s strong balance sheet and high cash reserves leave it well positioned to benefit from any market upturn.The final dividend has been halved to 3.5p, making the full-year dividend 4.5p, down from 8.5p last year.