21st Nov 2013 09:58
LONDON (Alliance News) - Intermediate Capital Group PLC was Thursday morning the biggest faller on the FTSE 250 after its massive rise in half-year pretax profits failed to satisfy some analyst forecasts.
Intermediate Capital, which structures and provides mezzanine finance, leveraged credit and minority equity, said it made a GBP155.3 million pretax profit for the six months to September 30, compared with GBP39.6 million pretax profit for the corresponding period the year prior.
The main reason for the near quadrupling in pretax profit was a GBP157.4 million gain on the company's investments, compared with GBP32.0 million at the corresponding stage in 2012.
However, James Hamilton of brokers Numis Securities Ltd. had forecast a GBP167 million pretax profit, but said the results otherwise were strong, if weaker than expected.
Shares were Thursday morning down 3.4% at 445.00 pence each, meaning it was the biggest faller on the FTSE 250.
Meanwhile, Intermediate Capital said assets under management at its fund management company were down to EUR12.10 billion from EUR12.93 billion at the end of the second half of 2013, primarily because of a reduction in the value of investment portfolio.
Intermediate Capital said it has seen strong fund launches, raising EUR2.4 billion. These included ICG Longbow's third fund closing at GBP700 million, Senior Debt Partners' strategy on target to close in excess of EUR1.5 billion, and two European collateralised debt obligations totalling EUR950 million raised.
"We have shown excellent fundraising momentum during the period. We are approaching the final close of our Senior Debt Partners strategy which, when reached, will be the third successive product to achieve its maximum size. Our funds are also investing on schedule and we have a solid pipeline across all of our markets," Christophe Evain, chief executive, said in a statement.
"We fully expect the level of fundraising seen in the period to continue under current market conditions. Longer term the global credit space offers significant opportunity to broaden our product range. We are well positioned to provide flexible financing to mid-market companies and deliver the returns investors need to meet their funding obligations as liquidity remains scarce," Evain added.
Intermediate Capital declared an interim dividend of 6.6 pence per share, compared with 6.3 pence last year.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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