Man Group (LON:EMG) executives told investors that the firm delivered “resilient” results in a volatile 2025, supported by diversification across investment strategies and record client inflows. Chief Executive Officer Robyn Grew and Chief Financial Officer Antoine Forterre highlighted higher assets under management, continued cost discipline, and progress against multi-year strategic priorities, including the Bardin Hill acquisition and increased investment in technology and AI.
Volatile markets, diversification benefits
Grew described 2025 as a year of “pronounced peaks and troughs,” citing shocks and reversals tied to events such as DeepSeek in January, tariff announcements in April, geopolitical tensions, and debate around fiscal spending and AI infrastructure investment. Within that backdrop, she said the year “highlighted clearly” the benefits of Man Group’s diversified investment content.
She pointed to strength in the firm’s numeric strategies, liquid credit, and its multi-strategy platform Man 1783. Grew said Man 1783 has delivered consistent performance since its 2020 launch by dynamically allocating across uncorrelated strategies, and later added that the product delivered 10.5% net annualized performance over the past three years.
AUM rises to $227.6 billion on record inflows
Forterre said Man Group ended 2025 with assets under management of $227.6 billion, up nearly $60 billion since the end of 2024. The increase was driven by $21.4 billion of positive investment performance and $28.7 billion of record net inflows.
Client engagement was a key theme. Grew said the firm held more than 16,000 client meetings in 2025, and that Man Group delivered record gross and net inflows, “nearly 20% ahead of the industry.” She said the firm has taken market share for the sixth consecutive year and posted a record year for new client additions, with 36% of gross sales coming from relationships new to the firm. Grew added that the top 50 clients remained invested in more than four strategies on average.
Forterre said long-only strategies were a major driver of growth, contributing $34.5 billion in net flows. He added that overall asset-weighted relative investment outperformance was 1.3% in 2025, compared with 1% in 2024, with long-only strategies delivering particularly strong results.
Other AUM movements totaled $8.9 billion, including $6.7 billion of FX tailwinds from a weaker U.S. dollar and $2.7 billion from the Bardin Hill acquisition. Forterre also noted $4.9 billion of uncalled committed capital at year-end, which he said provides a foundation for future growth in private markets.
Financial results, dividends, and capital return
Forterre reported net revenue of almost $1.4 billion, including $281 million of performance fees, which he said were “mostly from non-AHL strategies,” reflecting progress diversifying performance fee generation. The firm also recorded $38 million in investment gains.
Fixed cash costs were $430 million, reflecting earlier cost actions and headcount reductions, offset by currency and acquisition impacts. The compensation ratio was 48%, within the guided range, and core profit before tax was $407 million. Core earnings per share were $0.276, including core management fee EPS of $0.196 and performance fee EPS of $0.08.
Man Group proposed a final dividend of $0.115 per share, taking the total dividend for the year to $0.172, “in line with 2024.” In Q&A, Forterre said the dividend was kept flat because earnings were down year-on-year, and emphasized the firm’s capital allocation policy remains unchanged. He said the board may consider options for additional capital return “in due course,” but cautioned investors not to read the dividend decision as an indication about future M&A.
Forterre said the firm repurchased $100 million of shares at an average price of GBP 182, and that total capital returned to shareholders in 2025 was about $300 million (including the proposed final dividend and buyback). Over the past five years, he said dividends and buybacks totaled $1.8 billion, over 50% of the firm’s market cap as of end-December.
Fee dynamics and performance fee optionality
Run-rate net management fees rose to $1,182 million at the end of December 2025 from $1,058 million at the end of 2024, which Forterre said was the highest level in more than 10 years, driven by higher AUM and the second-half recovery in trend following. However, the run-rate net management fee margin fell to 52 basis points from 63 basis points, reflecting a shift in AUM toward long-only strategies.
Forterre said core performance fees were $281 million, down from $310 million in 2024, and highlighted that $59.6 billion of AUM was performance fee eligible at year-end. He added that $36.6 billion was at high-water mark, compared with $21.1 billion at the beginning of the year, and that $13 billion of long-only AUM is performance fee eligible. In Q&A, he attributed the increase in long-only performance fee eligible AUM to a “series of mandates,” not a single mandate.
Forterre also discussed a Monte Carlo simulation of potential performance fees, saying the median simulated outcome for 2026 was $471 million. He added that as of the 20th of the month, approximately $350 million of performance fees had accrued to crystallize in 2026, while stressing this was not guidance.
Strategy updates: credit growth, AI push, and new guidance framework
Grew said the firm’s three strategic priorities—diversifying investment capabilities, extending client reach, and leveraging talent and technology—continue to guide execution. She said Man Group’s credit platform now manages $53.1 billion across liquid and private credit, up from $28.3 billion two years ago, supported by strong demand in high yield and investment grade strategies and the October acquisition of Bardin Hill.
On quant equity, Grew said long-only strategies grew AUM by 97% in 2025 and highlighted that the firm’s quant alpha capability delivered 21.3% net performance during the year. She also pointed to growth in North America, saying annual gross flows nearly doubled in two years from $10 billion to nearly $20 billion, alongside a 24% increase in North American pension plan clients.
Technology and AI were another focus. Grew said the firm developed over 100 AI “plugins” across the organization and disclosed that Anthropic partnered with Man Group on AI design and application in investment management. In Q&A, management said there were no specific milestones to share yet, but described the partnership as a way to improve research capabilities and broaden efficiency and effectiveness across the firm.
Separately, Forterre said the company will shift its external modeling framework in 2026 from fixed cash cost and compensation ratio guidance to a core profit-before-tax margin range. Man Group expects to manage to a core PBT margin typically between 30% and 40%, calibrated around an average realized margin of 35% between 2020 and 2025. He said the change is intended to provide operational flexibility and “should not change” how investors think about overall profitability.
About Man Group (LON:EMG)
With a heritage in aiming to deliver attractive performance and tailored client solutions, Man Group is a highly active investment manager, powered by cutting edge investment technology. As a manager of millions of savers’ capital, we have a responsibility as stewards of those investments to create a better, more sustainable future for investors and society. Our quantitative expertise and data-driven culture means we believe Man Group is in a unique position to uncover the opportunities of the future.
Our five investment management businesses leverage our robust infrastructure to provide a diverse range of strategies across investment approaches, styles and asset classes.
We continuously invest in talent, technology and research as we strive to deliver the best results for our clients.
