Bridgepoint posts 10% increase in profits despite 'macro volatility'

Bridgepoint reported a big increase in first profits despite what it termed as macro volatility during the first half.

"These results reflect a period of strong [Fee Related Earnings] performance, careful management of cost growth to match progress in fundraising and the fact that performance related income is weighted heavily towards the second half," said Bridgepoint chariman William Jackson.

"We continue to be confident in our ability to deliver investment income in line with current expectations in 2023 and 2024 in aggregate. The business remains well positioned for current times with multiple routes to delivering performance."

The private equity outfit said that profit before tax for the first six months of 2023 jumped 10% to reach £53.1m.

Fee paying assets under management rose 24% versus the year earlier period to €24.6bn.

Investment income on the other hand fell by just over two third to £12.7m as a result of lower exit activity during the half, but expectations for this stream of income in 2023 and 2024 were unchanged.

Capital deployment however remained on track at €1.7bn over the latest six months while total assets under management stood at€39.5bn.

The latter was up by 6% for the half and by 48% since Bridgepoint's IPO in the 2020 financial year.

Its Bridgepoint Europe VII fund had already received commitments worth €6bn versus a target of €7bn, having received €500m in the latest quarter.

Bridgepoint Credit Opportunities IV and Brdigepoint Growth II were set to close over the next year, with BDC V and BDL IV expected to launch during that same window.

All funds' performance remained on or ahead of plan, Bridgepoint said.

Management declared an interim dividend of 4.4p with the final payout expected to be of no less than that amount.

Together with Bridgepoint's share buyback, the total capital return was expected to be more than double than that in the first half of 2022.