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(Alliance News) - City of London Investment Group PLC on Wednesday said it outperformed its benchmark in the first quarter of its current financial year but suffered a 2% slip in funds under management.
The asset management company said funds under management stood at USD5.3 billion as at September 30 compared to USD5.4 billion at its financial year-end on June 30.
City of London Investment Group said its investment manager's performance was ahead of the benchmark over the quarter. In particular, the company said the Emerging Market strategy net asset value performances were positive and discounts narrowed marginally.
In the Developed strategy, meanwhile, returns were hurt by weak NAV performances from European and UK securities.
In the Frontier strategy, performance was negative due to exposure to Argentina, City of London Investment said.
Looking ahead, the company said it estimates that post-tax profit for the three months to the end of September will be GBP2.4 million, up 9.1% from GBP2.2 million reported the year before.
A final dividend of 18 pence per share was declared for the year that ended on June 30, subject to approval at the annual general meeting on October 21. The total dividend for the year was 40.5p, including the special dividend of 13.5 pence paid in March. For financial 2018, the company made a 27 pence a share total payout, with no special dividend declared.
In addition, City of London Investment said Carlos Yuste will be joining the board as an executive director in January 2020. Yuste is the head of business development, the company said. He had served on the board as the business development director from the company's listing in 2006 through to 2015.
City of London Investment shares were trading 0.6% higher in London on Wednesday at 410.26p each.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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