Man Group shrugs off fears

THE world's largest listed hedge fund operator, Man Group, shook off fears of a summer meltdown in the Alternative Investment Market by lifting pre-tax profits 10% to $784m (£428m).

The FTSE 100 company cranked up dividends to shareholders by 30% to 66 cents.

The group's chairman, Harvey McGrath, said that although certain individual hedge funds may have been hit by credit downgradesat General Motors and Ford in the US, Man Group had been largely unaffected.

'There is no contagion,' he said. But he admitted there had been a slowdown in fund-raising from European private investors.

Man increased funds under management by 11% to $43bn in the year to 31 March. Investor redemptions are running at 10% per annum against levels of 12% to 18% over the past five years.