Man acquires but stays volatile

Man Group (EMG) was one of the few asset management companies to prosper over the past 18 months as the popping of the tech bubble, combined with its value long-only strategies, meant that it consistently outperformed the rest of the industry in the performance fees it generated. From the evidence of these results, that purple patch is now over as the conclusion of the value rotation, higher interest rates, and the end of the brief flowering of absolute return funds capped its overall performance. Indeed, the slide in performance fees was the single biggest change in the income statement, falling to just $32mn (£25mn) from a high of $404mn year-on-year.