Proactive Investors - Intermediate Capital Group (LON:ICGIN) shares rose 5.5% to new-all time highs after the investment firm reported higher than expected profit and said it is benefiting from the current market.
The FTSE 100-listed company has introduced a new medium-term target for fund raising of “at least $55bn” over the next four years despite a tougher market environment.
Its fund management company profit before tax grew 21% to £375 million, the tenth year of growth and above the analyst consensus of £336 million.
Third-party fee-earning assets under management ended the year at $69.7 billion, which was slightly below the City consensus of $70 billion, but management fee income rose 5% to a record £505 million, ahead of consensus £490 million and performance fees of £74 million trumped expectations of just £50 million, which drove the higher profit.
he dividend was increased by just 2% to 79p, though.
"We are a manager of choice for our clients, in a global market that will increasingly reward those with strong track records and resilient business models," said Benoît Durteste, who is both chief executive and chief investment officer.
He added that in the current market "we are benefiting from an environment in which strategies that invest in credit, structured transactions, and which provide liquidity solutions are particularly attractive".
Analyst Rae Maile at broker Panmure Gordon said the new medium-term target for fund raising averages at least $13.8 billion per year and consensus assumes $12.4 billion and $14.1 billion for the current and next year.
"The highest estimates are $16.5bn and $15.8bn, so the top end looks full although we are sure that many will comment, fairly enough, that past guidance has proven conservative. That is true, but is another of those areas where the company’s conservatism has already been discounted perhaps," Maile said.
He added that the company’s guidance for operating margin is “in excess of 52%” compares to consensus of 57% in 2025 and 56% in 2026.