Hedge fund Man Group PLC (LON:EMG) reported a 3% rise in funds under management in the first quarter and unveiled plans to buy back up to US$100mln of its shares.
The company said net inflows of US$4.8bn in the first three months of 2018 helped total assets under management to rise to US$112.7bn at the end of March from US$109.1bn in December.
The net inflows and a US$1.2bn boost from favourable foreign exchange rates offset a US$1.8bn hit from negative investment movement.
“We continued to see client demand for our alternative risk premia strategies and saw flows returning to our European long short strategy, following a sustained period of improved performance,” said Luke Ellis, chief executive officer of Man Group.
“The first quarter of 2018 was a weaker environment for equity markets and momentum strategies. While this impacted our absolute performance in some areas, outperformance across our long only and discretionary alternative strategies demonstrated the resilient and diversified nature of our business.”
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The group said it will repurchase up to US$100mln of its shares on top of the completed US$100mln buyback announced last October.
Man Group added that it would continue to review further potential acquisition opportunities.
“Looking forward we see continuing interest from clients, however, the institutional nature of our business means that flows are likely to be uneven on a quarter-to-quarter basis,” Ellis said.
Shares jumped 4.6% to 183p in morning trading.