Man Group says to beat forecasts despite turmoil

LONDON (Reuters) - Man Group, the world's biggest listed hedge fund firm, said on Thursday it would beat analysts' average profit forecast for the year ended March 31 despite turmoil in financial markets.

The British-based group said it had benefited from a bigger-than-expected rise in net performance fee income, as well as a strong performance at its AHL futures business.

It said the average analyst forecast for pretax profit from continuing operations was $1.82 billion. Man's pretax profit on continuing operations for the year to end-march 2007 was $1.30 bln.

The news pushed up its shares up 3.5 percent to 564.5 pence at 1032 GMT, valuing the business at about 9.52 billion pounds. Man shares have outperformed the DJ Stoxx financial services index by about 22 percent over the past 12 months.

"This pre-close statement should reassure the market, and we would expect the share price to respond well in the short term," said Cazenove in a note.

"This is a very strong set of results, achieved through a period of significant market turmoil," Man Group Chief Executive Peter Clarke said in the trading update.

"Our financial strength, strategic focus and strong performance mean that Man is extremely well placed to see continued strong growth."

Funds under management rose to around $75 billion from $71.7 billion at December 31, while redemptions totaled $10.6 billion, including $2.6 billion in the final quarter.

"The fall in client redemptions is important as it suggests that the spike in redemptions seen in Q3 may well prove to be temporary," said Bear Stearns in a note.  Continued...