Burford Capital shares soar as income jumps 17%

(Sharecast News) - Law-focused finance and investment management firm Burford Capital saw its shares boosted on Wednesday after reporting substantial income and profit increases.The six months ended 30 June has seen the company's total income jump 17% to $205.2m, with 95% of those profits made up from the firm's investment income of £195.2m.Consequently, profit after tax increased by 17% to £166.4m compared to the same period last year.Chairman Peter Middleton said: "Burford has experienced another stellar half-year, setting new records for income and profit. Burford continues to set the pace for a growing industry, in its scale, product development and risk-adjusted returns."The first six months of the year also saw client demand for Burford's capital reflected in record new investment commitments of $540m, up 10% from the same point the previous year, while the company's total assets increased 37% to $1.64bn.Chief executive Christopher Bogart said: "This past half-year affirms the trends we've increasingly set for more than eight years, with Burford's superior growth reflected in rising scale relative to longstanding competitors. The simple fact that we committed half-a-billion dollars to new investments in the first half of the year, historically our slower period, fills us with excitement for the continuing potential of the business."Following the successful start to the year, the AIM-traded company increased its first-half dividend by 20% to 3.67 cents.Liberum analysts said: "As today's results demonstrate, the company continues to maximise its leading position in the large and expanding litigation finance market. We continue to like the long term potential of litigation finance and Burford and re-iterate buy."Burford Capital shares were up 10.84% to 1,820.00p at 1201 BST.