21 November 2012 – interim results
The group has announced interim results for the six months to 30 September which have shown a fall in pre-tax profits to £39.6m from £108.8m. Although the fund management activities reported slightly higher profits, profits at the investment company fell sharply to £22.4m from £91.7m. The latter has been adversely affected by the poor economic conditions which have led to fewer realisations and also the write down of two large assets. The earnings per share have dropped to 10.3p from 21.6p although the dividend has been raised to 6.3p from 6.0p. Despite this, we believe that there may be better opprtunities elsewhere in the market although for income seekers, the yield of over 6.1% will appeal. We reduce our recommendation to hold but would advise more aggressive investors to TAKE PROFITS.