(Sharecast News) - Law-focussed finance and asset management company Burford Capital reported "record-breaking" levels of new commitments and deployments in a half-year update on Monday.
The AIM-traded firm said portfolio returns rose and loss rates fell in the six months ended 30 June, but added that case progress was "relatively quiet", with Covid-19-related delays noted.

It said it was considering converting to US generally-accepted accounting principles (GAAP) at year-end.

Non-cash accruals in the first half resulted in a net accounting loss for the period, although Burford noted a "positive result" on a cash basis.

It said its liquidity position was "very strong", with more than $430m of Burford-only liquidity on hand.

"We are very pleased with the level of new business activity we saw in the first half of 2021 and with the continuing strength of our portfolio, notwithstanding a fairly quiet period for portfolio resolutions," said chief executive officer Christopher Bogart.

"We believe that moving to US GAAP and positioning the business in the US capital markets mainstream will inure to the benefit of shareholders.

"We appreciate shareholders' continued support on this journey, which we believe will result in a larger, stronger, more highly valued company."

Burford Capital said it would release its interim results for the six months ended 30 June on 9 September.

At 0820 BST, shares in Burford Capital were down 6.44% at 792.9p.