TOKYO: Pre-tax profits at Polar Capital have dipped 5% after outflows from its Japanese strategies saw the fund house’s AUM take a £625m hit.
Announcing its annual results, the firm said pre-tax profit dipped from £34.2m to £33.7m following the first year since the financial crisis in which it did not grow its AUM.
Total AUM fell from $13.2bn to $12.3bn on the year, driven by a $1.9bn (£1.2bn) outflow from its Japan UCITS funds.
On a more positive note, Polar said the strong performance of its Global Convertible Bond strategy has helped assets rise from $10m to more than $275m (£175m) since launch in November 2013.
Meanwhile the Japan funds’ performance has subsequently improved following a “disappointing” year to 31 March, the group observed.
Looking ahead, chief executive Tim Woolley (pictured) said the group remains optimistic over growth prospects, saying the fund house has the potential to increase AUM to $25bn or more without any further team additions.
Nonetheless, Polar may consider recruiting a further team this year, focusing on institutional strategies.
“We still have scope to add one further team without altering our founding strategy, which has served us well so far and of course there is considerable scope to expand the existing teams and the products they offer,” Woolley said.
The chief executive also hinted at the possibility of the firm’s first multi-asset offering, adding: “Given the collection of investment talent we have now assembled, there will also be scope to consider launching [products] that formally involve multiple teams in their management.” Polar said it will maintain its full year dividend at 25p per share.
