City Of London Investment Group (CLIG): Solid results in volatile markets

City of London has announced its interim results for 1H’23. The headline figures were in line with those from the January trading statement. As previously indicated, weak markets meant that results were down on the year before. Gross revenue of £28.7m was 9% down, from £31.4m in 1H’22. Underlying earnings after tax were £8.99m, a decline of 25% from the previous year (note that these no longer need to be adjusted for part-years of Karpus). Underlying EPS of 18.4p represented a decline by the sam

City of London Investment Group (CLIG LN) - Interims in line with pre-close

CLIG’s interims are in line with its detailed pre-close update, which revealed: $9.15bn of Funds Under Management (FUM); revenue margins unchanged at 73bps net of third party commissions; CLIG’s run-rate profit remains at £2.7m a month; cash & equivalents at end 2022 was £19.1m; interim DPS remains at 11p.

Hardman & Co Insight - Asset managers had a poor 2022

Asset managers had a poor 2022: the S&P Composite 1500 Asset Management Index was down 22% and, according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI), worldwide mutual funds fell by 20%, from $76tr to $60tr. When bond and equity markets fall, the results are unlikely to be pretty: with revenues trending down and multiples contracting, there is a double whammy to contend with. So how do valuations shape up now, after a bullish start to the new year? The first chart is my favourite chart of asset m

City of London Investment Group: Swings and roundabouts

City of London has announced a trading statement for 1H’23 and, implicitly, 2Q’23. After 1Q’23 being weak for markets, they bounced back in 2Q, recovering the losses – and a bit more. Fund performance was also solid. After a good 1Q for inflows, the market gains were offset by some outflows across the strategies. The net result is that FUM increased by 7% over the quarter, from $8.51bn to $9.15bn. This was a marginal decline, over the half year, on the $9.22bn as of 30 June 2022. An unchanged in

City of London Investments (CLIG LN) - Six-month trading update

CLIG’s half-year pre close trading update reveals $9.15bn of Funds Under Management (FUM): up in 2Q, but down 1% since 30 June. CLIG’s run-rate profit remains at levels reported in the 1Q IMS; the interim DPS remains at 11p.

City of London Investment Group (CLIG LN) - 1Q IMS rebases forecasts

CLIG’s 1Q trading update reveals $40m of net inflows, 8% fall in FUM reflecting weak financial markets and a 10% reduction in run-rate profit per month. It also reminds shareholders “final dividend of 22 pence per share, subject to approval at the AGM on 31 October 2022, will be paid on 4 November 2022”.

City of London Investment Group (CLIG LN) - Annual report

CLIG’s annual report & accounts is precisely in line with its pre-close update of 19 July, which revealed $102m of net inflows, Sterling value of Group Funds under Management “FUM” of £7.6 billion and recommendation of a final DPS of 22p (2021 final: 22p).

The Hardman & Co Monthly: August 2022

Feature article: Utility regulation – Changes afoot - Patching up a tainted model While the gas supply crisis – and its price implications – have dominated the UK price regulated sectors in recent months, other issues have arisen that have seriously tainted the price regulation system itself. Indeed, it is fair to ask whether it is ‘’fit for purpose’’. Back in 1984, price regulation, via an unsophisticated RPI-x formula, was introduced to prevent the privatised British Telecom (BT) from abusin

City of London Investment Group (CLIG): Robust profits in tough markets

City of London has announced its trading update for the final quarter of FY’22. It has been another tough quarter for fund managers, with global markets suffering significant setbacks. CLIM’s two main benchmarks, the MSCI Emerging Markets Net TR Index and the MSCI All Country World Index ex US, declined 11% and 14%, respectively. Against that, it is no surprise that City of London’s total FUM declined from $10.26bn to $9.22bn. This was helped by another quarter of net inflows, with the Internati

City of London Investment Group (CLIG LN) - Full year update

CLIG’s pre-close update revealed $102m of net inflows, Sterling value of Group Funds under Management “FUM” of £7.6 billion and recommendation of a final DPS of 22p (2021 final: 22p).

Hardman & Co Monthly: July 2022

Feature article: Punching above their weight? The contribution of small- and mid-cap quoted companies to markets, employment and tax revenues Back in May 2019, Hardman & Co and the Quoted Companies Alliance jointly published a paper looking at the importance of small and mid-size quoted companies (SMQCs) to the markets, and their contribution to tax revenues and employment in the UK. This is a poorly researched area, and that paper helped frame the debate; it has been quoted from by bodies such

The Hardman & Co Monthly: May 2022

Feature article: Latest ONS survey: steady as she goes…and ignore retail investors at your peril The ONS (Office for National Statistics) has been charting the beneficial ownership of UK-quoted companies periodically since the early 1960s. The latest paper was published in March 2022, and considers the data for December 2020. At December 2020, “Rest of the World” investors owned 56.3% of the market, a further growth since the last survey, while UK institutions’ ownership edged up to 31.6%.

City of London Investment Group (CLIG) Fighting the market invasion

City of London has announced its trading update for 3Q’22. It has been a tough quarter, with the Russia/Ukraine conflict leading to weakness in markets, albeit they have partially recovered from their initial reaction. Overall, FUM fell from $11.1bn at the end of 2021 to $10.3bn at the quarter-end, a decline of 8%. This compares with declines in the MSCI Emerging Markets total return Index of 7.0% and the MSCI All Country World ex US Index of 5.4%. CLIM saw net inflows across all the strategies,

City of London Investment Group (CLIG LN) - 3Q update & Board streamlining

CLIG’s 3Q IMS revealed $147m of net inflows and 4.8% fall in Sterling value of Group Funds under Management “FUM” (using today’s exchange rate the FUM is materially unchanged) and a reorganisation, which streamlines the Board.

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 23 Mar 23

23 March 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment objectiv

Audioboom Group - Robust FY22 results, maiden 8p dividend planned for FY23

In today’s FY22 results, Audioboom has reported adjusted EBITDA and net cash in line with the January trading update, highlighted an encouraging start to FY23, and announced plans to pay a maiden FY23 dividend. FY22 revenue growth of +24% yoy to $74.9m has been driven by +16% growth from core premium sales, +70% growth from Showcase, and +37% yoy growth from Sonic, and enabled Audioboom to outperform the wider podcast industry for the sixth consecutive year. A tight control on cost drove adjuste

A maturing portfolio

Frontier IP has reported interim results (H123) that reflect a period of strong technical progress but without the large revaluations of previous periods. Net assets per share decreased to 88.2p (FY22: 88.5p) while Net Cash increased to £5.8m providing the Group with a multi-year cash runway. H123 saw a number of important commercial and technical developments with FIPPs management highlighting Pulsiv and Alusid as moving beyond inflection points. A £0.5m pre-tax loss reflects no major net reval

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 21 Mar 23

21 March 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment objectiv

Cenkos: Braemar Plc -- Record revenue and profitability

In a trading update for the year to 28 February 2023, Braemar highlighted record revenue and profitability for the period. Braemar expects to report revenue not less than £150m, up at least 48.1% on FY22A, and underlying operating profit of not less than £20m, c100% ahead of FY22A, with all parts of the business performing well and further helped by a positive dollar FX tailwind. Braemar has increased its investment in the business during H2/23 and with trading in the current year staring well,

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 16 Mar 23

16 March 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment objectiv

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 24 Mar 23

24 March 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment objectiv

Fintel plc (FNTL LN) - Growth driven by FinTech

Fintel’s 2022 results provides details behind its January pre-close, which revealed: • 8% core revenue growth to £56.4m (FY21: £52.2m) • 7% core SaaS & Subscription revenue growth to £36.8m (FY21: £34.3m) • 4% total revenue growth to £66.5m (FY21: £63.9m), including surveying & panel management • Adjusted EBITDA growing.6% to £19.4m, in line with Board expectations (FY21: 6%), while adjusted core EBITDA grew 9% to £18.6m (Zeus forecast: £18.0m) • 118% (FY21: 116%) operating cash conversion,

SP Angel Morning View:Copper prices tick higher on improving fundamentals as Trafigura expects $12,000/t

FY22 update – Performance in-line & board changes

RBGP has published its FY22 pre-close trading update this morning. Unaudited FY22 revenue, adj. EBITDA and adj. operating profit are expected to be in-line with our estimates. Professional Services, saw good performances across both, the legal services and sell-side corporate finance offering. Whilst there is no resolution on decreasing exposure to LionFish, the Group is encouraged by accelerating developments. RBGP also announced a number of changes to the board, with Nicola Foulston, CEO, havi

Pricing power underpins expectations

Morning Note – 23 March 2023

Solid Q4 NAV, Hydro demonstrates its power

The Q4 NAV rose 1p (net of a 1.25p dividend) to 118.7p, taking the NAV TR for the year to 19.6%. DORE’s solid Q4 performance was the product of multiple countervailing forces (detailed below). DORE’s decision to store (in early Q4) hydro-generation capacity (water) in its dams facilitated higher value generation later in the period and above expected hydropower revenues. In light of recently published discount rates for UK Solar (7.0%-7.5%), DORE’s valuation of its UK Solar assets at 8% feels co

Ricardo (RCDO LN) - Up with events pending CMD

We have been positive on RCDO as trading and order intake has recovered, but we think the stock will now mark time pending the CMD and strategy update in May. We refresh our estimates and valuation after recent H1s, and another tuck-in acquisition. For FY23e our revenue is lifted by 2% to £429m and operating profit lifts by 4% to £34m. Our EPS is held back slightly (up 2% to 33.1p) with higher assumed taxes and cost of debt. Similar upgrades are applied in FY25e. With higher estimates, record or

No frills Q3 update; FY guidance confirmed

Experian reported a Q3 FY23 trading update in line with our expectations. Organic growth moderated to 6% yoy (vs 8% in both the Q1 and Q2) due to a tough comparison base. The consumer services segment continued to lead, while core bureau (i.e. ex-mortgage) growth also remained resilient. The management reiterated its FY23 guidance. Overall, no big surprises and hence the share price reaction remained muted (+0.2% at the close). We maintain our cautiously optimistic view on the stock.