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(Sharecast News) - Investment manager Foresight Group reported higher assets and continued strong fundraising in FY26, alongside progress on simplifying its business following the agreed sale of its public markets arm.
Foresight said assets under management rose 8% to 13bn, while funds under management increased 7% to 9bn, both reflecting continuing operations. On a constantcurrency basis, AUM and FUM each grew 5%, with FX movements partly offsetting declines linked to its FY23 Australia acquisition. Australian realisations, including Zenith Energy and Kinetic, strengthened performancefee income but reduced AUM by 250m.
Retail fundraising delivered a fifth consecutive record year, rising 7% to 630m, and up 93% over three years, while institutional privateequity inflows reached 95m, supported by the launch of Foresight's 16th regional fund.
The FTSE 250-listed firm, which said the sale of its public markets division was expected to complete in Q3, said total revenues increased 11% to 164.9m, recurring revenue rose 6% to 135.3m, and core underlying earnings preSBP grew 10% to 68.6m. Adjusted earnings per share climbed 13% to 46.4p.
Foresight also recommended a 19p final dividend, taking its fullyear payout to 27.1p, up 12% year-on-year, and the group also repurchased 9.6m of shares under its 50m buyback programme, with 40.4m expected to be deployed across FY27 and FY28.
Post yearend, AUM rose to roughly 13.1bn and FUM to around 9.2bn.
Chairman Bernard Fairman said:"FY26 was another year of profitable growth, with double-digit percentage increases in core EBITDA pre-SBP, adjusted earnings per share and dividend per share.
"We enter the new financial year wholly focused on our core real assets and private equity divisions with a diversified fundraising pipeline across institutional and retail investment vehicles managing long duration capital, and remain committed to our medium-term growth guidance."
As of 0930 BST, Foresight shares were up 8.31% at 444.08p.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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