Shares in Man Group, the world’s largest publicly traded hedge fund, jumped nearly 5% following the release of strong profit figures, despite ongoing challenges in some of its key investment strategies, according to a report by the Financial Times.
The London-listed firm reported pre-tax profits of $398m for 2024, marking a 43% increase from the previous year. Analysts highlighted that both adjusted profits and fee income surpassed market expectations.
Man Group, which has a market capitalisation of £2.61bn, also announced plans to buy back $100m in shares and declared a full-year dividend of 17.2 cents per share, slightly above last year’s payout.
“We think this is a strong set of results and a great platform as we enter 2025,” said CEO Robyn Grew.
Despite the profit surge, assets under management saw only a modest increase of $1.1bn, reaching $168.6bn. This was partly due to a significant $7bn client redemption in the third quarter of 2023 and the impact of a stronger US dollar on non-dollar-denominated assets.
Man Group’s well-known data-driven quantitative hedge fund strategies continued to underperform for a second straight year. These strategies, which seek to capitalise on market trends, tend to struggle during periods of high volatility and sudden market reversals.
Shares in Man Group climbed more than 4% in early London trading on Thursday, reaching 218.9p. While the stock has gained slightly since the start of the year, it remains down about 9% compared to a year ago.
One of the company’s standout performers was its 1783 hedge fund, which trades across multiple strategies and charges higher fees. The fund delivered a 14.5% return, in line with top hedge funds such as Millennium and Citadel, which posted returns of around 15%.
