SIX MONTH TRADING UPDATE AND DIVIDEND DECLARATION

RNS Number : 3233N

City of London Investment Group PLC

20 January 2023

 

City of London Investment Group PLC

20 January 2023



 CITY OF LONDON INVESTMENT GROUP PLC

("City of London", "the Group" or "the Company")

FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT ("FuM") AS AT 31 December 2022,

SIX MONTHS TO 31 DECEMBER 2022 TRADING UPDATE AND 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 2022, FuM were US$9.2 billion (£7.6 billion). This compares with US$9.2 billion (£7.6 billion) at the Group's year end on 30 June 2022.  A breakdown by strategy follows:

	FuM ($ million)						Strategy Index
	Dec-22	Jun-22	%		Net				%
	(estimate)		increase/		Flows				increase/
			(decrease)						(decrease)
EM	3,570	3,703	(4%)		(65)		MSCI EM Net TR		(3.0%)
KIM	3,369	3,433	(2%)		(103)		Not applicable
INTL	1,894	1,812	5%		13		MSCI ACWI  ex US		3.0%
OV	240	193	25%		48		ACWI/Barclays Global Agg		(0.1%)
Other*	77	83	(7%)		-
	9,150	9,224			(107)

* 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.

Over the period, there were inflows of circa US$295 million, outpaced by outflows resulting in net outflows of circa US$107 million across the Group's strategies, led by EM redemptions and required minimum distributions for Karpus Investment Management ("KIM") strategies at year end.

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 73 basis points of FuM, net of third party commissions. "Fixed" costs are c. 1.9 million per month, and accordingly the current run-rate for operating profit before profit-share is approximately 2.7 million per month based upon current FuM and a US$/£ exchange rate of US$1.2083 to 1 as at 31 December 2022.

The Group estimates the unaudited profit before amortisation and taxation for the six months ended 31 December 2022 to be approximately £11.9 million (six months ended 31 December 2021: £15.5 million).

Inclusive of our regulatory and statutory capital requirements, cash and cash equivalents stood at £19.1 million at the end of the calendar year (£22.7 million as at 30 June 2022), in addition to the seed investments of £7.6 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 2022 on 22 February 2023.

Dividend

The Board declares an interim dividend of 11p per share, which will be paid on 31 March 2023 to shareholders registered at the close of business on 3 March 2023 (2021: 11 pence).

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 10 March 2023.

The Board confirms the final dividend timetable for the year to 30 June 2023:

· ex-dividend date:	2 March 2023
· dividend record date:	3 March 2023
· DRIP election date/ deadline for currency election:	10 March 2023
· announcement of USD dividend conversion rate:	17 March 2023
· dividend payment date:	31 March 2023

City of London Investment Group is a UK registered company, listed on the London Stock Exchange and declares its dividends in GBP.  Shareholders based in the US can elect to receive dividends in USD, should they wish to do so. The currency conversion rate from GBP to USD will be fixed two weeks before the dividend payment date. The currency election form can be found on our website at https://clig.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Currency-Election-Form-2022.pdf

Alternatively, overseas shareholders may be able to use the International Payment Service (IPS) and receive dividend payments direct to their bank account in local currency. Further information regarding the IPS including terms and conditions, costs and forms for signing up are available from Link Group at https://ww2.linkgroup.eu/ips .

Dividend cover template

Please see dividend cover template attached here. http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/3233N_1-2023-1-19.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.com/ or contact:

Tom Griffith, CEO

City of London Investment Group PLC

Tel: [phone]

Martin Green

Zeus Capital Limited

Financial Adviser & Broker

Tel: [phone]

This release includes forward-looking statements, which may differ from actual results.  Any forward-looking statements are based on certain factors and assumptions, which may prove incorrect, and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to future events, the Group's operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity.

 

END

 

 

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