(Alliance News) - Polar Capital Holdings PLC on Thursday reported higher interim profit, helped by gains on seed investments.
The active asset manager's pretax profit for the six months ended September 30 rose to GP27.0 million from GBP24.9 million.
Revenue was lower at GBP68.8 million compared to GBP71.3 million the prior year, but other income climbed to GP5.3 million from only GBP768,000, which lifted gross income to GBP74.1 million from GBP72.1 million.
"Other income has increased materially when compared to the prior six-month period as a result of gains on seed investments, which in turn were due mainly to the strong performance against benchmark of the GEM Stars and Global Absolute Return funds," Polar Capital explained.
Assets under management totalled GBP16.4 billion on September 30, up from GBP12.2 billion on March 31. As at October 31, AuM had further risen to GBP16.9 billion.
Polar Capital declared a 9.0 pence per share dividend per share, up from 8.0p the year before.
Chief Executive Gavin Rochussen said: "Given the market backdrop, the Polar fund strategies with a clear growth/quality style profile have performed well. Our diverse and differentiated range of sector and regional fund strategies, and our performance led culture, gives us confidence in our ability to withstand market turbulence in these uncertain times.
"There remains significant capacity in our strategies and we are well positioned to continue delivering above average returns for our clients and shareholders over the long term."
Shares in Polar Capital were down 0.4% at 607.33
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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Polar Capital (POLR)