Miton Group Plc Trading Statement (7774K)

TIDMMGR

RNS Number : 7774K

Miton Group Plc

12 July 2017

MITON GROUP PLC

HALF YEAR TRADING UPDATE

"Strong net inflows and investment performance contributed to the growth in AuM"

Miton Group plc (the 'Company' or 'Group'), the AIM quoted fund management group, today announces a trading update for its half year ended 30 June 2017 (the 'period'), together with an update of its unaudited statement of Assets under Management ('AuM') as at 30 June 2017.

Highlights

   --      Solid start to the year consistent with our outlook for 2017 as a whole 
   --      GBP3,354 million closing AuM, up from GBP2,905 million at the start of 2017 

-- Average AuM for the period was GBP3,157 million (2016 FY: GBP2,783 million), an increase of 13.4%

   --      GBP18.2 million of cash balances as at 30 June 2017 (30 June 2016: GBP17.4 million) 
   --      Share buy-back programme completed on 23 February 2017 

Assets under Management

 
                  Opening                       Half                   Closing 
                      AuM       Q1       Q2     year          Market       AuM 
                    1 Jan      Net      Net      Net    / investment    30 Jun 
                     2017    flows    flows    flows     performance      2017 
                     GBPm     GBPm     GBPm     GBPm            GBPm      GBPm 
 
 Equity funds       1,714       66       84      150             164     2,028 
 Multi-asset 
  funds               672       26       15       41              37       750 
 
   Total funds      2,386       92       99      191             201     2,778 
 
   Investment 
   Trusts             519        5      (1)        4              53       576 
 
   Total            2,905       97       98      195             254     3,354 
 
 

Progress - funds

-- Continued expansion of our fund range with the launch of the CF Miton Global Infrastructure Income Fund on 23 March 2017

-- 12 out of 15 funds are first or second quartile performers since manager tenure to 30 June 2017(1)

-- Organic growth progressed with positive net flows in 24 out of 26 weeks during the first half of the year. 8 out of 11 open ended funds saw net inflows during the period

Progress - people

-- Jim Wright joined the group in January 2017 to lead the global equity infrastructure strategy. The new CF Miton Global Infrastructure Income Fund ends the half year with AuM of GBP14m

-- Added to the Group's distribution capability with two new appointments to the sales team. Each are highly experienced sales people with the ambition to provide enhanced customer service and reach new clients in the North of England, Scotland, the borders and Newcastle

   --      We are making good progress on the appointment of a new Non-Executive Chairman 

Progress - corporate

-- Following the announcement on 22 December 2016, the Group's GBP2.6m share buyback programme was completed on 23 February 2017. The Group acquired and cancelled 6,606,900 ordinary shares

-- A dividend of 1.00p per share was paid to shareholders on 4 May 2017, an increase of 49.2% on the prior year reflecting the Board's continued confidence in the growth prospects of the Group

David Barron, Chief Executive Officer of Miton Group plc, commented:

"This has been a strong start to the year for Miton and we are optimistic that the second half will continue to deliver net inflows, subject to markets. Our new management structure, which has been in place since March, is also benefiting the business and we are making good progress on the appointment of a new Non-Executive Chairman.

Changing market dynamics have led to an increasing client interest in strategies investing across a wider opportunity set which can demonstrate strong risk-adjusted performance. Miton's mix of genuinely active multi-asset and single strategy funds now have the performance and scale which with our proven distribution, put them in a strong position to grow over the coming years."

(1) The quartile performance rankings are based on Investment Association sector classifications, with data sourced from FE Analytics in GBP using Class B Shares, net income reinvested, mid to mid basis for OEIC funds and bid to bid for FP Miton Income and MI Miton Cautious Monthly Income funds. Performance for Investment Trusts is calculated on Net Asset Value (NAV), ranked against Association of Investment Companies sector classifications, and is sourced from Morningstar Direct. All data is as at 30 June 2017.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Miton Group plc 020 3714 1500

David Barron / Gervais Williams

MHP Communications 020 3128 8100

Reg Hoare / Simon Hockridge / Charlie Barker

Peel Hunt (Nominated adviser and Broker) 020 7418 8893

Guy Wiehahn / Rishi Shah

www.mitongroup.com

Notes to Editors:

Miton Group plc (referred to as the "Company" or "Group"), is an equity and multi-asset fund management specialist. As at 30 June 2017 the Group managed GBP3,354 million of assets including nine OEICs, two unit trusts and four investment trusts under the Miton brand.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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July 12, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)