Pollen Street PLC (LSE:POLN) said 2022 was a “transformative year” for the company and said it is excited about the year ahead.
The asset manager reported growth in assets under management (AuM) for the year ended 31 December 2022 to £3.4bn, according to a statement, driven by 36% growth in the credit AuM.
“Against a challenging macro-economic backdrop, Pollen Street has shown resilience and consistent delivery to perform well, which has seen our AuM grow to £3.4bn,” said chief executive Lindsey McMurray.
Performance of the asset management business was in line with consensus, with underlying earnings (EBITDA) totalling £8.5mln, 21% higher than in 2021.
Pollen Street, which is the result of a merger between Pollen Street Capital and Honeycomb Investment, added that its investment company also “delivered performance in line with expectations”, with net investment assets returns of 8% and net income of £28.3mln.
A statutory operating profit of £27.3mln was reported, down from £30.3mln in 2021.
Looking ahead, Pollen Street said it is “well-positioned” for long-term organic growth and is on track to deliver its objective of £4bn to £5bn AuM in the medium term, although it said it will “closely” monitor the impact of the macroeconomic environment.
“Our outlook remains strong, and we are well positioned through our core strategies to drive long-term organic growth,” McMurray added.
Pollen Street added it will not be moving ahead with the proposal put forward to shareholders to establish B Shares ahead of its AGM.
These shares would have been 8% preference shares with recourse to capital and income deriving from a representative proportion of the credit portfolio, with a net asset value of up to £50mln, it said.
The group has decided not to proceed with the proposal as it believes it would not garner sufficient shareholder support.
In a separate statement, the company declared a 16p per share dividend for the three months to 31 December 2022 to be paid on 31 March.