Man Group Profits Rise 40% in First Half of 2006

Strong inflows and higher fees boosted Man Group’s profits 40% in the first half of the year to $637 million, or 31.1 cents a share, the company announced Thursday. This was up from $455 million, or 23 cents a share, in the first half of 2005.

This beat the median of $612.5 million in earnings, as Bloomberg found by surveying four analysts. The results were surprising, given the fact that Man Group, along with a majority of hedge funds, have been delivering poor performance, Mark Glazener, manager of the $8.9 Robeco fund told Bloomberg. His fund holds stock in Man Group.

“The hedge fund industry as a whole hasn’t had great performance. Man has had bad performance in the past, and that hasn’t affected inflows.”