(Alliance News) - Bridgepoint Group PLC on Tuesday confirmed its annual guidance after a strong first half of the year that brought an increase in fee-paying assets under management of nearly a quarter, but it said the exits from some investments have been put back to the second half and next year.
Bridgepoint is London-based private equity investor that listed in London two years ago this month and later joined the FTSE 250 index.
Shares were down 10% at 189.50 pence early in London. They remain well below their initial public offering price in 2021 of 350p.
Fee-paying AuM totalled EUR24.6 billion on June 30, up 24% from EUR19.8 billion a year before and up 5.1% from EUR23.4 billion on December 31. This lifted management and other fees by the same 24% to GBP124.6 million from GBP100.9 million a year before, though down 11% from GBP140.6 million a year before.
Total assets under management were EUR39.5 billion, up 6.5% from EUR37.1 billion a year before and up 3.9% from EUR38.0 billion on December 31.
Pretax profit in the first half of 2023 was GBP53.1 million, up 9.9% from GBP48.3 million a year before, though down 33% from GBP79.1 million in the second half of 2022.
Bridgepoint declared an interim dividend of 4.4 pence per share, up from 4.0p a year before, and said it will pay no less than the same 4.4p as its final dividend. Including a share buyback in the first half of 2023 that represented a capital return of 3.8p, the total shareholder return in the first half of 2023 was more than double that of the first half of 2022, the company noted.
Investment income declined to GBP12.7 million in the recent half from GBP38.7 million a year before, due to lower exit activity. Bridgepoint said its expectations for investment income this year and next are unchanged in total but now are weighted to the second half of 2023 and to 2024.
"Bridgepoint is well positioned to deliver 2023 performance in line with current expectations and confirms full-year guidance recognising potential volatility in the precise timing of completing exits in process which drive investment income splits between 2023 and early 2024," it explained on Tuesday.
By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor
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