Business
Full Year Results 2018
Full Year Results 2018.
About this update from Burford Capital Limited
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 6737S Burford Capital 13 March 2019 \n\nThis announcement contains inside information.\n \n13 March 2019\n \nBURFORD CAPITAL REPORTS RECORD 2018 RESULTS\n \nBurford Capital Limited (\"Burford\" or \"the Company\"), the leading global finance and investment management firm focused on law, announces its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2018.\n \nHighlights1\n \n· 23% increase in operating profit to $354 million (2017: $289 million) and 24% increase in net profit after tax to $328 million (2017: $265 million); operating margin of 84%\n \n· Income up 23% to $420 million (2017: $341 million), driven by 22% increase in income from investments to $389 million (2017: $318 million)\no Unrealised gains remained generally consistent with prior year levels at 55% of income (2017: 53%; 2016: 54%)\no 26 different investments contributed realised gains to 2018's performance (2017: 20)\n \n· Robust cash generation up 42% to $513 million (2017: $362 million)\n \n· Returns on the core litigation finance investment portfolio rose to an 85% return on invested capital, net of losses (2017: 76%), with consistent ~30% IRRs\n \n· 14% increase in annual dividend proposed, to total dividend of 12.5¢ per share (2017: 11.0¢); final dividend of 8.83¢ payable on 14 June 2019 with record date of 24 May 2019\n \n· Consistently high demand for Burford's capital reflected in new investment commitments of $1.3 billion in 2018, showing that 2017's similar commitment level - which more than tripled the prior year's performance - was not a one-off event\n \n· Assets under management in Burford's investment management business increased to $2.5 billion (2017: $1.7 billion), including through new investment fund and sovereign wealth fund strategic capital relationship collectively providing the path for the next $1.6 billion of investment\n \n· Return on equity of 30% (34% without 2018's new share issue, vs 37% in 2017), affected by a 71% increase in net assets to $1.4 billion (2017: $799 million)\n \n1 Figures for income, operating profit, profit before tax and profit after tax in this release exclude the ...