AuM down at First Property Group despite good trading

First Property Group, a commercial property fund management group, will say at Friday's annual general meeting that trading has continued well and in line with the firm's expectations, despite the difficult economic conditions. It's clients have also performed well, but the weakening euro has resulted in some capital value reductions in sterling terms, leading to a decrease in its overall assets under management (AuM) from £365m at March 31st to around £350m at the mid-September point. However, the group was keen to underline the robustness of the underlying income generation of its client funds. "We are working to grow the business of the company in three main ways," the firm said. "The raising of a new fund to invest in recessionary resilient relatively high yielding UK commercial investment property; the raising of a new fund to invest in debt secured on income producing UK commercial investment property; and expanding assets under management in Fprop Opportunities (FOP). "We are making progress in raising new funds and hope to report further in this respect in due course. We are also working on some attractive property investment opportunities on behalf of FOP and similarly hope to report on these in due course."NR