Polar Capital Regulatory News (POLR)

POLAR CAPITAL HOLDINGS plc

Preliminary Group Audited Results for the year ended 31 March 2014

Financial Highlights

· Net inflows every quarter over the financial year, despite turbulent markets, with Assets under Management ("AUM") at 31 March 2014 up 83% to US$13.2bn (2013: US$7.2bn)

· Core operating profit excluding performance fees up 146% to £24.6m (2013: £10.0m)

· Profit before share-based payments and amortisation of intangibles of £34.2m (2013: £16.8m)

· Pre-tax profit £32.7m (2013: £15.3m)

· Basic earnings per share up 106% to 30.78p (2013: 14.95p) and adjusted* diluted earnings per share up 97% to 29.04p (2013: 14.77p)

· Dividends for the year 25.0p per share (2013: 13.0p) including a second interim dividend of 21.0p per ordinary share to be paid on 18 July 2014 to shareholders on the register on 4 July 2014

· Shareholders' funds £74.2m (2013: £53.8m) including a strong cash position

· The Global Financials Investment Trust was launched on 1 July 2013 raising £153m

Current Trading

After 15 quarters of net inflows, the first quarter of our current financial year has so far seen more challenging market conditions and resulted in net outflows of approximately $300m although currently our AUM is above the year end level.

*Adjusted to exclude cost of share-based payments and intangible asset amortisation.

Our Funds/Strategies

(In chronological order)

Assets Under Management

* Including managed accounts run off the same strategy

Analysis of Changes in Asset Types for the 12 Months to 31 March 2014

Chairman's Statement

Our last financial year proved an exceptional one with assets under management increasing 83%, well beyond our expectations at the start of the year. We benefited from exceedingly strong inflows into a number of our funds but particularly our Japanese funds and from the strength in most major global equity markets.

Results

Pre-tax profits before share based payments and intangible asset amortisation/impairment increased from £16.8m to £34.2m with core pre-tax profit increasing from £10.0m to £24.6m. Net performance fees increased from £5.5m to £7.6m, our thirteenth successive year of generating such fees.

Our balance sheet remains strong with net cash now standing at £47.0m.

Market Background

Over recent years I have been writing to you against a background of turbulence and volatility in global stockmarkets. This year proved somewhat of a contrast with many of the major developed stockmarkets around the world posting strong gains. In Japan for example the Nikkei 225 was up 21.1% and in the US the Standard and Poor's 500 Composite was up 21.3%. In Europe there was considerable variation in individual country returns although the broad based MSCI Europe Total Return Index increased a healthy 24.5%. The UK was somewhat of a laggard in comparison, the FTSE All Share Index rising just 8.9%. Some of the less developed markets had a difficult year contributing to a lacklustre performance from the MSCI Emerging Market Total Return Index. This fell 1.4% over the period as investors fretted over the impact on the Emerging Market economies of the US Federal Reserve's desire to reduce monetary stimulus through a reduction in its QE2 (Quantative Easing) programme.

The improved economic and market backdrop in the developed markets had a significant bearing on our year given our degree of exposure to long only equity funds investing in developed market equities. The higher market levels have a direct impact on the level of assets in many of our funds. There is an indirect impact as well - with our clients feeling more confident about the economic outlook and the prospects for equities they have increased their allocations to equity products considerably over the last twelve months either by reducing their cash levels or through a reduction in their bond exposure. Our net inflows for the twelve months were almost $5bn - a very material increase in the level of flows we had been enjoying in recent previous years.

Funds and Performance

Although the overall market background improved significantly over the period, we would not have achieved the level of asset growth and inflows we did without having strong performing and differentiated products to offer to clients. This is well illustrated by the inflows we experienced into our Japanese funds where our award winning team had delivered exceptional outperformance to investors over many years and have benefited from a surge in investor interest in Japan following the reforms being pursued by the government and the aggressive monetary policy being pursued by the Bank of Japan.

By the end of our financial year, the Japanese team was managing assets in excess of $5bn - this was the first time in our history that a team has reached $5bn in assets. This is testimony not only to the team and its approach and performance record but also the success of our investment into distribution and client service over the last five years.

Although Japan accounted for over fifty percent of our net inflows, we also saw strong inflows into a wide range of other funds. In particular good inflows were seen into our North America, Emerging Market Income and Healthcare Opportunities UCITS funds.

The short term performance in a number of our funds has been less strong than we have been accustomed to although inevitably with active funds that are taking meaningful 'bets' against their indices there will be periods of underperformance as well as outperformance. The long term record on our long only funds remains very strong and we remain highly confident in our teams' ongoing ability to deliver substantial outperformance to our clients over the medium and longer term.

On the absolute/hedge fund side, we had good returns from the Forager and ALVA funds which both posted double digit returns over the period. Returns from our European Market Neutral funds and our Conviction fund were rather muted.

Awards

At a group level we were pleased to win the 'Specialist Group' awards at the Investment Europe Fund Manager of the Year Awards and at the Investment Company of the Year Awards. At a fund level we won awards for: Asian Financials; Global Technology; Japan; Global Insurance; North America; Healthcare Opportunities; Emerging Markets Income and Financial Income.

Developments

For the first time in a number of years we did not add to the number of investment teams, indeed the number actually reduced during the year with the decision to close down our UK leg which had seen assets dwindle over recent years following a poor period of performance.

Although the number of teams went down, our product range continued to expand with a number of new fund launches.

At the beginning of July we completed the very successful launch of our Global Financials Investment Trust which raised an initial £153m, one of the largest equity focused investment trust launches in recent years.

Later in the year we launched two new UCITS funds - a global convertible fund and a biotechnology fund. Both have produced strong initial returns for clients and we anticipate both will become significant products for us over the medium term.

Dividend

As previously stated the Board believes that the level of dividend should reflect the Company's trading results, its cash resources and also its future prospects. The total dividend for any year is always a distribution of the majority of the Group's total earnings for the year. To assist shareholders in forecasting and understanding the size of the Group's future first interim dividend payments, always paid in January, these will going forward be predicated on half of the first half year's core earnings.

The Board has declared a second interim dividend of 21.0p (2013: 11.0p) to be paid in July 2014. Together with the interim dividend of 4.0p paid in January 2014 the total dividend for the year amounts to 25.0p (2013: 13.0p).

Outlook

The global economy looks set for steady growth in the year ahead with inflationary pressures remaining muted. The US economy is growing at a reasonable rate and starting to add jobs but not at a sufficient pace to trigger inflationary pressures or a more aggressive reining in of QE2.

In Europe the UK is growing quite robustly despite last year's scepticism from the International Monetary Fund over the government's strategy and even in Continental Europe there are tentative signs of a return to growth albeit at a very subdued level. Chinese growth may have slowed from the heady levels of the last decade but at 5% plus it is still growing at a meaningful rate and with the recent election of a new pro-business Prime Minister, India may well be set for a period of accelerated growth over the coming years.

The outlook for global growth thus remains reasonable and this should provide the opportunity for good businesses to do well. Valuations on a number of major markets however do not look cheap and good earnings growth may be required if further gains are to be made near term. The outlook is certainly not without risk and whilst progress has been made on debt levels in certain sectors and countries, overall debt levels remain high by historical standards and in some areas are on the rise again. It remains uncertain as to how various markets will fare if the US Federal Reserve reduces QE further than expected.

However, near term the biggest threat would appear to be geopolitical. Recent events in the Ukraine and the Middle East have created nervousness and uncertainty in markets which could get worse over the coming months if events unfold in an unpredictable and dangerous manner. Tensions also seem on the rise in Asia between China and a number of its neighbours. Such tensions have an impact on client confidence and allocations and we have seen this in our own fund flows over recent weeks.

We enter the new financial year therefore with a degree of a caution although we remain confident in our long term outlook given our expanded product set and with the further investments we have made in investment teams, distribution and operations personnel.

Inevitably given the huge success of our Japanese team, the direction of the Japanese market and client allocations to that market will have a significant influence on our short term results. However, our ability to develop a $5bn plus franchise gives us increased confidence we have the right ingredients and strategy to achieve similar success with a number of our other teams over time, who are addressing considerably larger market opportunities than our Japan team.

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting will again this year be held at Cayzer House, 30 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6NN at 2.30pm on Monday 28 July 2014 and I would encourage shareholders to attend to meet the Directors.

Full details of the meeting are given in the separate Notice of Annual General Meeting.

Tom Bartlam

Chairman

Chief Executive's Report

Our Chairman has updated you on the events of the past year so I will not dwell further on that but focus my report on our strategy for further growth in the years ahead.

So far we have followed the same strategy that we started the Company with over thirteen years ago. Our intent remains to build a sizeable global specialist investment boutique using fundamentally researched strategies in both long only and absolute return funds. Our strategy set a limit of twelve investment teams, so we still have scope to increase our team count by a third and remain true to the original strategy.

After an eighteen month period of consolidation in terms of team numbers, we are now actively looking to make additions again. We are encouraged by the number and quality of unsolicited approaches we are now receiving from managers across a variety of strategies as our profile continues to increase within the industry.

When we established Polar we set out to create the environment, ethos and financial model to attract and retain talented active fund managers and allow them to thrive and deliver differentiated performance to our clients. It is encouraging to note that ninety percent of our funds have outperformed their benchmarks net of all costs and fees since they were launched.

The table below illustrates the performance of our long only UCITS range of products. Inevitably over the shorter time periods there will be some variation in performance given the active nature of our funds but the long term performance record remains excellent.

Source Lipper

The huge recent success of our long established Japanese team has somewhat masked the success we have had on the long only side with our newer teams. The table below illustrates the progress we have made over the last three years:

The success we have enjoyed in recent years with our long only teams has moved our business mix heavily towards long only both in terms of quantity of products and percentage of our overall assets under management. The significant rise in the level of global markets since the nadir of the financial crisis in March 2009 has been a factor but we undoubtedly have been more successful at identifying talent on the long only side compared to our efforts on the alternative side.

We do though remain firmly committed to developing our alternatives business both through investing further in the existing teams and bringing on new managers. The alternatives market has bifurcated between the traditional Cayman hedge funds which remain popular with North American clients and the less developed but rapidly growing market for alternative UCITS products, which are now becoming the product type of choice for European buyers looking to allocate to absolute return strategies.

Our recent experience with the launch of our Global Convertible UCITS product is illustrative of the trend. The fund was launched in November and already has nearly $100m. We anticipate we will launch additional alternative UCITS product over the coming year to tap into this exciting opportunity on the alternative side.

On the long only side of the business there remains ongoing debate over the merits of passive versus active fund management. We have believed since the outset of Polar that given the ease with which computer models could replicate long only indices and create passive products and strategies, running 'active' long only funds in a "closet index way "would become an increasingly challenged business model. So it is proving with the giant US firms who already control and dominate the supply of passive products continuing to increase their market share at the expense of the "active closet indexers".

As an increasing number of clients replace a part of their active portfolio with passive products, they are looking for genuine alpha generating managers to take on an increasing share of the remaining active portfolio and deliver the outperformance that passive products intrinsically can never provide. The opportunity for us thus continues to expand.

Undoubtedly one of the challenges with high alpha generating products is to manage the capacity issue. Every active management strategy has a limit in terms of assets managed and capability to continue to deliver outperformance. The level of assets will vary enormously according to the strategy and the underlying investments associated with that strategy. We strive to limit the size of our funds either through a soft closure (no monies accepted from new clients) as we have done with our Japan UCITS fund or a hard closure (no monies accepted from either new or existing clients) as is the case with our Forager fund in order to ensure long term investment performance is not compromised.

This will inevitably limit our ultimate growth potential at an individual product level and within a team and strategy at some point. Despite our rapid growth over recent years, the existing capacity levels with our current teams and current products do still provide ample opportunity for further expansion. If we are successful in adding more teams this year or launch additional products with our existing teams, then our opportunity set will expand even further.

We continue to believe the overall outlook for global wealth creation and the management of that wealth remains encouraging. In the developed economies there is a growing realisation that people are making insufficient provision for their retirement and with life expectancy continuing to rise, someone wishing to retire at sixty has to consider the possibility of making provision for a further twenty to thirty years!

In our home market recent changes by the UK government to pension legislation will likely increase the demand over time for equity related products, particularly those with an income focus.

In the emerging markets there remains enormous potential for further wealth creation and further growth in the middle classes over the coming decades despite some recent setbacks in a number of those economies.

As long as we are able to keep delivering differentiated performance on our products and value to our clients, we remain optimistic that our current positioning and strategy will allow us to deliver significant further profit and dividend growth to shareholders over the long term. We do though have to recognise that last year was an exceptional year in terms of profit and dividend growth and it would be unrealistic to anticipate a similar level of growth in the coming year - indeed, we expect an altogether more challenging year.

I will close with thanks to all our clients for their tremendous support over the last twelve months and thanks to all at Polar who helped make such an exceptional year possible. We are very much a people business and I believe we are a group whose professionalism, dedication and esprit de corps will continue to serve clients well for many years to come and allow us to grow the business significantly over the medium term.

Tim Woolley

Chief Executive

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Results of the year

It is pleasing to report that the Group has delivered profits that are in all respects an improvement compared to last year's good numbers. The results for the year show that the increase in AUM delivered the anticipated improvement in core operating margin. In addition, the good performance of the Group's products has led to an increase in net performance fees as well as the profits realised from the Group's investments.

The 87% increase in net management fees was a product of the increase in assets managed by the Group. As reported previously, AUM that started the year at $7.2bn ended the year 83% higher at over $13.2bn. The increase in performance fee revenues was attributable to the general out performance of Polar's products against their respective benchmarks.

The headline 60% increase in operating costs to £53.2m includes the performance fee interests that are paid to managers. The 64% increase in core operating costs is less than the 87% increase in net management fee revenues, which has led to the improvement in margins as detailed below.

The increase in the salaries, bonuses and other staff costs reflects an increase in staff head count through the business as the Group invests for future growth.

The increase in core distributions is a reflection of the interests that managers have in their individual business units as they become profitable. These interests are strongly correlated to the increase in the Group's AUM and the improvement in the Group's profits.

The headline profit before tax for the year has increased to £32.7m from £15.3m.

The Group believes that the best measure of profitability is the profit before share based payments (as detailed more fully below), amortisation and tax. On this basis the Group has improved year on year over 100% delivering £34.2m of profits against £16.8m the year before. The improvement has come from:

· Core operating profits

 profits have risen faster than the rise in revenues as a product of an improvement in margins; rising to 36% from 28% the year before.

· Performance fee profits

good performance across the product range in 2013 has delivered an increase in performance fees.

· Interest and similar income

improved profits have been realised from the Group's Investments.

The most encouraging feature of the year has been, as the AUM have risen, the delivery of the improved core profit margin. This provides comfort that operational leverage of the business is being achieved through the control of the Group's fixed overheads.

Share-based payments

The face of the consolidated income statement includes a line titled "share-based payments" which accounts for a charge of £1.5m (2013: £1.0m). The figures are broken down as follows:

Earnings per share

The effect that the charge for share-based payments and the charge for amortisation of intangible assets (see below) has on the EPS figures of the Group are as follows:

Preference shares

A separate class of preference shares is issued by Polar Capital Partners Limited to each of the leading fund managers. These shares provide each manager with an economic interest in the funds that they run and ultimately enable the manager to convert their interest in the revenues generated from their funds into equity in Polar Capital Holdings plc. The equity is awarded in return for the forfeiture of their current core economic interest and vests over three years with the full quantum of the dilution being reflected in the diluted share count (and so diluted EPS) from the point of conversion. The event has been designed to be, at both the actual and the diluted levels, earnings enhancing to shareholders.

In the year to 31 March 2014 one set of preference shares converted into Polar Capital Holdings equity (zero in year to March 2013). The product of the recent event is that a total of 1.39m shares are to be issued of which 0.56m have been issued as at 31 March 2014. The remaining 0.83m shares will be issued in two equal tranches on 31 March 2015 and 31 March 2016. Simultaneous to the initial commitment to issue these new shares in Polar Capital Holdings the recipient of the shares has forfeited a fixed economic interest in the business unit to which the shares were associated amounting to a value of £0.5m per annum.

As at 31 March 2014 one additional set of preference shares have the ability to call for a conversion. The call has to be made on or before 30 November 2014 if any conversion is to take place with effect from 31 March 2014.

Amortisation of intangible assets

On 21 September 2010, the Group acquired 100% of the voting shares of HIM Capital Holdings Limited, a specialist fund manager with an established track record of managing financial funds and with approximately $245m of assets under management, thereby establishing a strong financials sector franchise for the Group. The product of the acquisition was that intangible assets of £1.7m representing the acquired investment management contracts were taken onto the Group's balance sheet (i.e. the consideration above the value of tangible assets purchased). These intangible assets and the associated deferred tax liability/goodwill of £0.4m have been amortised/impaired over a period of two years. This resulted in a charge of £0.5m in last year's accounts. At 31 March 2013 the intangible asset and the associated deferred tax liability / goodwill sums had been fully amortised so there was no further charge this year.

Balance Sheet and cash

At the year end the cash balances of the Group had increased by £16.1m to £47.0m (2013: £30.9m). The increase was a product of the £43.7m of cash generated from the Group's operating activities (2013: £20.7m), the payment of £12.2m of dividends, £6.1m of tax, the net investment of £9.5m of cash into investments and investment hedging and £0.2m of new equity issued.

At the balance sheet date the Group held £43.9m of investments in its funds (2013: £31.2m).

Capital management

The Group believes in retaining a strong balance sheet. The Chairman's statement documents that the Group's dividend policy is to distribute the majority of its earnings. The Capital that is retained in the business is used to either seed new investment products or if not so required is invested into the Group's absolute return funds as investment capital. As at March 2014 there were no pure investments, but £43.9m of the Group's balance sheet was invested to seed fledgling funds. The majority of the interest and investment revenues in the year were a product of this seeding program, where £3.5m of profits were produced from the realisation or roll over of investments and the associated currency hedging while £1.5m of losses were a function of the mark to market losses made on the long only investment hedging program.

Business risk

There is a range of risks and uncertainties faced by the Group which are more fully described in the Strategic Report. Amongst the major risks to the business strategy is the loss of assets under management due to markets falling, poor investment performance or the loss of key investment personnel. These events will not only have an immediate impact on the management fees earned by the Group but also deprive the Group of possible performance fees.

Going concern

The Financial Reporting Council has determined that all companies should carry out a rigorous assessment of all the factors affecting the business in deciding to adopt a going concern basis for the preparation of the accounts.

The Directors have reviewed and examined the financial and other processes embedded in the business, in particular the annual budget process and the financial stress testing inherent in the Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process ("ICAAP"). On the basis of such review and the significant liquid assets underpinning the balance sheet relative to the Group's predictable operating cost profile, the Directors consider that the adoption of a going concern basis, covering a period of at least 12 months from the date of this report, is appropriate.

John Mansell

Finance Director

Consolidated Income Statement for the year ended 31 March 2014

All of the items in the above statements are derived from continuing operations.

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income for the year ended 31 March 2014

Consolidated Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2014

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity for the year ended 31 March 2014

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement for the year ended 31 March 2014

Selected notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2014

1 Principal Accounting Policies

General

Polar Capital Holdings plc (the 'Company') is a public limited company registered in England and Wales whose shares are traded on the Alternative Investment Market ("AIM") of the London Stock Exchange.

The principal accounting policies applied in the preparation of these consolidated financial statements are set out below.

Basis of preparation

The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adopted by the European Union and the Companies Act 2006 applicable to companies reporting under IFRS. The consolidated financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, except for available-for-sale financial assets, financial instruments at fair value through profit or loss and derivative financial instruments that have been measured at fair value.

The Company financial statements have been prepared in accordance with UK GAAP and under the historical cost convention. No profit and loss account is presented for the Company as permitted under section 408 of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis of consolidation

The consolidated financial statements of the Group comprise the financial statements of the Company and its subsidiaries. Subsidiaries are fully consolidated from the date of acquisition, being the date on which the Group obtains control, and continue to be consolidated until the date when such control ceases. The financial statements of the subsidiaries are prepared for the same reporting period as the parent company and where necessary, adjustments are made to the financial statements of the subsidiaries to bring their accounting policies in line with those of the Group. All intra-group transactions, balances, income and expenses are eliminated on consolidation.

Business combinations

Business combinations are accounted for using the acquisition method. The cost of an acquisition is measured as the aggregate of the consideration transferred, measured at acquisition date fair value. Acquisition costs incurred are expensed.

When the Group acquires a business, it assesses the financial assets and liabilities assumed for appropriate classification and designation in accordance with contractual terms and economic circumstances as at the acquisition date.

Goodwill is initially measured at cost being the excess of the consideration transferred over the net identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed. If this consideration is lower than the fair value of the net assets of the subsidiary acquired, the difference is recognised in profit or loss.

After initial recognition, goodwill is measured at cost less any accumulated impairment losses. Goodwill is tested for impairment on an annual basis and any impairment losses are charged to the income statement.

Intangible assets

The cost of intangible assets acquired in a business combination is their fair value as at the date of acquisition. Following initial recognition, intangible assets are carried at cost less accumulated amortisation and any accumulated impairment losses.

Intangible assets are amortised over the useful economic life of the assets, which continues to be estimated at two years, and assessed for impairment whenever there is an indication that the intangible asset may be impaired. The amortisation expense on intangible assets is recognised in the income statement.

2. Operating Segments

The Group is a specialist investment management group offering professional and institutional investors a range of geographical and sector investment opportunities. The Group's assets under management are separated into products and services but as the strategic and financial management decisions are determined centrally, by the Chief Executive, the Group only has one class of business, being the provision of investment management and advisory services. The Group's revenue generating operations are in London, with small offices in Tokyo, Jersey, Connecticut and Geneva that do not generate any revenue.

2.1 Geographical analysis of income (based on the residency of source)

2.2 Analysis of income by type of fees

3. Earnings Per Ordinary Share

The calculation of basic earnings per ordinary share is based on the profit for the year of £25,034,315 (2013: £11,640,700) and 81,333,171 (2013: 77,847,031) ordinary shares, being the weighted number of ordinary shares.

The calculation of diluted earnings per ordinary share is based on the profit of the year of £25,034,315 (2013: £11,640,700) and 91,273,900 (2013: 88,823,800) ordinary shares, being the weighted average number of ordinary shares allowing for all options of 9,940,725 (2013: 8,507,871) which are dilutive.

The calculation of adjusted earnings per ordinary share is based on profit for the year of £25,034,315 but adjusted for the cost of share-based payments of £1,467,900 (2013: profit of £11,640,700 adjusted for the cost of share-based payments of £940,800, amortisation of intangibles of £428,000 and impairment of goodwill of £111,410) and 91,273,900 (2013: 88,823,800) ordinary shares being the weighted average number of ordinary shares allowing for all dilutive options.

As at 31 March 2014, the fully diluted number of ordinary shares which would be in issue is 95,584,600 shares if all outstanding options were exercised.

Status of preliminary announcement

The Board of Directors approved this preliminary announcement on 19 June 2014. Whilst the financial information included in this preliminary announcement has been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") as endorsed by the European Union, this announcement does not itself contain sufficient information to comply with all the disclosure requirements of IFRS and does not constitute statutory accounts of the Group for the years ended 31 March 2014 or 31 March 2013.

The financial information has been extracted from the statutory accounts of the Company for the years ended 31 March 2014 and 31 March 2013. The auditors reported on those accounts; their reports were unqualified and did not contain a statement under either Section 498 (2) or Section 498 (3) of the Companies Act 2006 and did not include references to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by way of emphasis.

The statutory accounts for the year ended 31 March 2013 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies, whereas those for the year ended 31 March 2014will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies following the Company's Annual General Meeting.

Copies of Report and Accounts

The full annual report and accounts will be posted to shareholders in June 2014 and copies will be available thereafter from the Company Secretary at the Company's Registered Office, 4 Matthew Parker Street, London SW1H 9NP (020 7227 2700) or from the Company's website at www.polarcapital.co.uk

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting will be held at 2.30pm on 28 July 2014 at Cayzer House, 30 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6NN

Directors

T H Bartlam Non executive Chairman

T J Woolley Chief Executive Officer

J B Mansell Chief Operating Officer

H G C Aldous Non executive director, Chairman of Audit Committee

B J D Ashford-Russell Non executive director

J M B Cayzer-Colvin Non executive director,

G V Bumeder Non executive director

M W Thomas Non executive director, Chairman of Remuneration Committee

Forward looking statements

This preliminary announcement contains certain forward looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and businesses and plans for Polar Capital Holdings plc. These statements and forecasts involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend upon circumstances that have not yet occurred. There are a number of different factors that could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward looking statements. Nothing in this statement should be construed as a profit forecast.

The release, publication, transmission or distribution of this announcement in jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom may be restricted by law and therefore persons in such jurisdictions into which this announcement is released, published, transmitted or distributed should inform themselves about and observe such restrictions. Any failure to comply with the restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from the hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) is incorporated into or forms part of this announcement.