Man Group AUM declines in half year results despite net inflows

Man Group's assets under management declined in the first half of the year due to market performance, falling from $148.6bn at the start of the year to $142.3bn.

Despite net inflows of $3.2bn and alternative strategies' strong investment performance boosting AUM $2.1bn, long-only strategies lost $7bn while negative FX and other movements saw a $4.6bn drop.

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The firm's total return strategies, particularly AHL TargetRisk, performed poorly, recording $2.1bn in losses in investment performance and $2.8bn loss in FX and other movements. Man Group said this reflected its "long-only exposure to fixed income and equity markets".

Meanwhile, it attributed its declines in long-only AUM to "broad exposure to global equities". The firm noted that while most strategies had been mixed overall, the firm's GLG Continental Europe strategy fell 27.3%, which it said was due to its growth bias.

Performance fees revenue increase was also particularly notable, rising from $284m in June 2021 to $404m today. This, along with other increases, pushed core earnings per share up by 28%, to 24 cents per share.

Man Group also provided an update on their planned $125m share buyback announced in June, which as of 29 July had seen $39m completed.

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Luke Ellis (pictured), CEO of Man Group, said: "The first half of 2022 was yet another strong period for Man Group. Amidst a volatile market environment, we delivered for our clients and shareholders alike, demonstrating the value that active, uncorrelated investment strategies and solutions can bring to portfolios.

"Strong performance from our absolute return strategies, positive alpha from our long-only strategies, net inflows 2.7% ahead of the industry, and a 28% increase in core earnings per share reflect the quality of our people, the benefit of our technology, and the attractiveness of our differentiated business model.

"We enter the second half with high performance fee potential and a good level of client engagement. While we expect some volatility in flows in the near term, as clients access liquidity and rebalance their portfolios due to market movements, we remain focused on the long term. We are confident that our diversified range of investment strategies and continued focus on alpha generation position us well for future growth."