Hedge fund Man Group is in demand ahead of its half year figures due on Thursday, with its shares up 40.5p to 401.25p. This follows the recent strong performance of its key AHL fund.
Analyst Daniel Havercroft at Investec said:
"Given the detailed pre-close [statement at the end of September], we expect few surprises, with pre-tax profits down over 10% to $710m and earnings per share down 5% to 32.5 cents. Investor attention is likely to be on comments relating to current trading, where we expect a cautious statement with management indicating that while the company is well-positioned to weather the financial turbulence, there is little escaping its impact in the short term."
Meanwhile, after its early dip, the FTSE 100 is well on course for its sixth successive day of rises. With Wall Street up around 270 points on the Obama effect, the FTSE 100 is 143.21 points better at 4586.49. If it closed around this level it would be its highest level since early October.
Not everything is heading north, however. Bus and train group Stagecoach has gone into reverse, down 11.6p to 183.6p on continuing fears that recession will hit its train business hard, especially the London commuter routes. There will certainly be fewer investment bankers using its services for a while.
But Panmure Gordon's Gert Zonneveld said today's fall looked slightly harsh. The company has seen no real signs of any major downturn, although the outlook is by no means certain. Public transport is more popular, more environmentally friendly and more reliable than in the past, said Zonneveld. But on the other hand, some of the rail franchises were awarded on the basis of annual growth of 2-4%, which looks a bit heroic at the moment.
