UPDATE: Polar Capital Looking To Add New Funds In FY11

23rd Jun 2010 10:57

(Adds executive, analyst comment) By Rachael Gormley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Asset management company Polar Capital Holdings PLC (POLR.LN) said Wednesday it was more confident for the fiscal 2011 after assets under management rose in the second half of the fiscal 2010, and said it is looking to boost figures further by expanding its range of funds. "At the moment we are in four [of the 18 equity sub-sectors defined by the U.K. Investment Management Association]," Chief Executive Tim Woolley told Dow Jones Newswires. "If we can address eight of these sectors it would be a significant improvement in our addressable market," he added. Woolley said decisions on hiring new teams to bring in more product offerings would be driven by the availability of high-level fund managers and the cultural fit of any new teams. Polar also Wednesday posted a 74% decline in fiscal 2010 pretax profit, but recovered the loss recorded at the half-year point due to a significant recovery in assets under management during the second half. Polar said assets under management stood at $2.5 billion at the end of fiscal 2010 at March 31, a 33% increase from the half-year point and a 71% rise over the 12 months. The asset manager said it was "encouraged" for fiscal 2011 by the rise in assets under management, but it expects the wider economic environment to remain challenging during much of the fiscal 2011. "We're pleased with how [the fiscal 2010] turned out and there's momentum in the business," Woolley said. "The outlook for the market is mixed," he added. Pretax profit fell to GBP3.1 million from GBP12.1 million a year earlier, which Polar attributed to the fall in assets under management in the previous fiscal year. Polar's assets under management at the start of the year totaled $1.48 billion compared with $3.14 billion a year earlier. As a result, net fees fell to GBP21.7 million from GBP51.9 million. Following the results Numis analysts kept a "buy" rating and a 120 pence target price on Polar, pointing to the potential for assets to grow across both long-only funds and hedge funds, and for Polar to attract new talent to add more funds. At 0939 GMT, shares in Polar were flat at 94.5 pence while the wider FTSE All-Share was down 0.6%. -By Rachael Gormley, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9308; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 23, 2010 05:57 ET (09:57 GMT)