City of London doubles managed assets as investors lap up emerging markets
ASSET management firm City of London Investment Group said yesterday it had doubled its assets under management over the first half of the year, as investors shifted cash to the emerging markets.
City of London’s funds under management rose to $4.7bn (£2.9bn) over the six months to November 2009, from $2.1bn in the same period in 2008.
The group said its pre-tax profit soared 75 per cent over the period to £4.8m, prompting it to boost its interim dividend to 7p per share, from 5p last year.
Aim-listed City of London also said it would reconsider moving its listing to the main list of the London Stock Exchange, after a poor performance in the investment markets last year caused it to put its expansion plans on hold.
Chairman Andrew Davison said a number of the group’s clients had recently increased their exposure to the emerging markets.
“The economic outlook for emerging markets remains, in our view, positive and significantly better than for many developed economies,” he said.
Davison said the group expects progress to carry on into the second half of the year as its core investment markets continue to settle and the commitment of new money from its existing and new institutional clients translated into increased funds under management.