City of London Investment Group PLC
19 January 2022
CITY OF LONDON INVESTMENT GROUP PLC
("City of London", "the Group" or "the Company")
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT ("FuM") AS AT 31 December 2021,
SIX MONTHS TO 31 DECEMBER 2021 TRADING UPDATE, DIVIDEND AND SPECIAL DIVIDEND DECLARATION
City of London (LSE: CLIG), a leading specialist asset management group offering a range of institutional and retail products investing primarily in closed-end funds, announces that on a consolidated basis, as at 31 December 2021, FuM were US$11.1 billion (£8.2 billion). This compares with US$11.4 billion (£8.3 billion) at the Group's year end on 30 June 2021. A breakdown by strategy follows:
|
FuM ($ million) |
|
|
|
Strategy Index |
|
|
||
|
Dec-21 |
Sep-21 |
% |
|
Net |
|
|
|
% |
|
(estimate) |
|
increase/ |
|
Flows |
|
|
|
increase/ |
|
|
|
(decrease) |
|
|
|
|
|
(decrease) |
EM |
4,800 |
4,937 |
(3%) |
|
(149) |
|
MSCI EM Net TR |
|
(1.3%) |
KIM |
3,949 |
3,890 |
2% |
|
(53) |
|
Not applicable |
|
|
INTL |
2,147 |
1,840 |
17% |
|
265 |
|
MSCI ACWI ex US |
|
1.8% |
OV |
232 |
229 |
1% |
|
(4) |
|
ACWI/Barclays Global Agg |
|
2.0% |
Other* |
22 |
22 |
0% |
|
- |
|
|
|
|
|
11,150 |
10,918 |
|
|
59 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* includes Frontier, REIT and seed investments
Funds under Management figures are rounded
IM Performance
Solid relative performance across CLIG's investment strategies resulted from good NAV performance at the underlying closed end funds and positive discount effects.
Over the period, there were net inflows of circa US$59 million across the Group's strategies, due to asset raising for the International Equity strategy. Year-end rebalancing and tax planning led to outflows from the EM and KIM strategies.
Business development will focus on EM, International, and Opportunistic Value strategies, and KIM balanced mandates, where additional capacity is now available for prospects.
Operations
The Group's income currently accrues at a weighted average rate of approximately 72 basis points of CLIM's FuM and at approximately 76 basis points of KIM's FuM, net of third party commissions. "Fixed" costs are c. 1.6 million per month, and accordingly the current run-rate for operating profit, before profit-share is approximately 3.3 million per month based upon current FuM and a US$/£ exchange rate of US$1.3532 to 1 as at 31 December 2021.
The Group estimates the unaudited profit before amortisation and taxation for the six months ended 31 December 2021 to be approximately £15.5 million (2020: £9.9 million).
Inclusive of our regulatory and statutory capital requirements, cash in the bank stood at £24.5 million at the end of the calendar year (£25.5 million as at 30 June 2021), in addition to the seed investments of £6.1 million. Our cash reserves will allow us to continue managing the business conservatively through volatile markets while following our dividend policy for our shareholders.
The Company is currently in a close period which will end with the publication of results for the six months ended 31 December 2021 on 18 February 2022.
Dividend
The Board declares an interim dividend of 11p per share, which will be paid on 25 March 2022 to shareholders registered at the close of business on 25 February 2022 (2021: 11 pence).
In addition, the Board announces a special dividend of 13.5p per share, which will also be paid on 25 March 2022 to shareholders registered at the close of business on 25 February 2022 (2021: Nil).
Shareholders may choose to reinvest their dividends using the company's Dividend Reinvestment Plan, to do this please visit www.signalshares.com or if you hold your shares through a broker please contact them. The deadline to lodge your election is 4 March 2022.
Dividend cover template
Please see dividend cover template attached here.
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/8718Y_1-2022-1-18.pdf
The dividend cover template shows the quarterly estimated cost of dividend against actual post-tax profits for last year, the current six months and the assumed post-tax profit for the remainder of the current year and the next financial year based upon specified assumptions.
For further information, please visit http://www.clig.co.uk/ or contact:
Tom Griffith, CEO
City of London Investment Group PLC
Tel: 001-610-380-0435
Martin Green/Pippa Hamnett
Zeus Capital Limited
Financial Adviser & Broker
Tel: +44 (0)20 3829 5000