RAB Capital (LON:RAB) announced today that they have managed to reverse the trends in AUM flows, increasing assets under management from $1.26 billion in June to $1.9 billion at year end. The company also confirmed it had improved liquidity in restructuring funds over the period and established a more efficient context for asset growth going forward.
The London based investment management company, specialising in absolute return funds, announced that at year end its net assets and investments were at GBP98.7 million, down from 2008's result of GBP 115.4 million. Net income was down 58% to GBP18.2 million for the period, with a reduced loss after tax of GBP3.1 million. The basic and diluted loss per ordinary share was 0.65pence, whereas in 2008 it was 3.38 pence. However, Chief Executive, Stephen Couttie, remained positive:
"We are encouraged by the performance of the RAB investment strategies and other achievements in 2009. RAB is now in a strong position to continue rebuilding the business." Michael Alen-Buckley, Executive Chairman, added: "Our balance sheet strength and the business stability achieved following earlier restructuring initiatives bode well for further progress in 2010."
Going forward, the company say they have an emerging bearishness about the speed of recovery in the global economy from the events of 2008, particularly with regarding Europe. Strategically, the firm has looked at, and continues to review, new teams or businesses to combine onto the platform albeit by reference to high thresholds in terms of quality and materiality, the report said. By way of example, RAB recently recruited a team to manage Asian deep value assets and anticipates that the AUM managed by this team will exceed $100million by the end of 2010. RAB is also reportedly assessing the advantages that UCITS III products could bring to our distribution efforts. To conclude the report, the board said that while they are in a much improved position and there are opportunities to exploit, the overall environment for investing could still prove challenging in the short to medium term.
