LONDON (Alliance News) - Fund manager Miton Group PLC said on Monday that it turned to pretax profit in the first half due to exceptional items it booked last year not repeating, though its adjusted profit was lower even as its assets under management increased in the first half and it said inflows were continuing.
Miton said its pretax profit for the half to the end of June was GBP633,000 against a GBP10.0 million loss a year earlier, when it booked a GBP12.5 million exceptional writedown on the sale of Miton Capital Partners. Stripping out the exceptional items, adjusted pretax profit declined to GBP800,000 from GBP3.4 million.
The fall in profit was due to the lower revenue base from which the group is now operating, with first half revenue down to GBP10.4 million from GBP15.3 million due to the disposal last year. Average assets under management for the first half fell on a year-on-year basis for the same reason, down to GBP2.14 billion from GBP2.95 billion, though assets under management increased over the course of the first six months to GBP2.23 billion at the end of the period from GBP2.05 billion at the end of December.
Miton said it is trading in line with its expectations for the full year and said the momentum of inflows has continued after the close of the year, with its assets under management standing at GBP2.36 billion at the end of August, driven by a rise in assets in its CF Miton UK Value Opportunities fund.
Miton said it intends to launch a new European equities fund in the fourth quarter.
"The fall in Miton Group's half-year profits reflected the operational gearing of the business following the reduction in funds under management compared to last year. Despite this, the group remained profitable and ended the period with renewed momentum in terms of inflows into our funds," said Ian Dighé, Miton's executive chairman.
"As AUM rises we anticipate benefiting from the operational gearing of the business," he added.
Shares in Miton were down 2.6% to 26.43 pence on Monday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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