Record Funds Under Management and New CEO's Debut Mark Strong Half for City of London Investment Group

CLIG reports record $11.9bn FuM & rising profits in H1, with dividend held at 11p. New CEO focuses on performance despite client outflows.

24 February 2026by Joshua Thompson6 min read21 views

This article covers information on City of London Investment Group PLC.

LON:CLIG

CLIG half-year results: record FuM, rising profits, and a steady dividend

City of London Investment Group (CLIG) has turned in a tidy first half to 31 December 2025. Funds under Management (FuM) hit a record $11.9 billion by 18 February 2026, while profits, fees and earnings all moved higher. The interim dividend is held at 11p per share, signalling confidence and discipline on payouts.

There’s a new CEO in the chair too. Cooper Abbott has made his debut with a clear focus on performance, empowerment and efficiency. Under the bonnet, performance was strong across several strategies, even as client rebalancing created net outflows. Here’s what matters and why.

Headline numbers investors should know

Metric	H1 FY2026	Prior period
FuM at 31 Dec 2025	$11.2 billion	$10.8 billion (30 Jun 2025)
FuM at 18 Feb 2026	$11.9 billion	$9.9 billion (31 Dec 2024)
Net fee income	$37.3 million	$35.3 million
Profit before tax	$14.0 million	$12.6 million
Underlying profit before tax	$16.2 million	$15.2 million
Basic EPS	21.6¢ (16.1p)	19.0¢ (14.7p)
Underlying EPS	25.1¢ (19.5p)	22.9¢ (17.8p)
Cash and cash equivalents	$32.8 million	$35.5 million (30 Jun 2025)
Interim dividend	11p per share	11p

What’s driving the record FuM?

Average FuM was $11.2 billion in the half, about 13% higher year-on-year. Markets did a lot of the lifting: equities rallied, and CLIG’s teams delivered “measurable alpha” (returns above benchmark). That market and performance tailwind added a chunky $1.3 billion.

Offsetting that, the Group saw net client outflows of $853 million. Management is clear this was mainly portfolio rebalancing after strong gains, plus structural moves like pensions shifting to liability-matching or OCIO consultant changes. In plain English: not performance-driven redemptions, but still something to monitor.

Profits, fees and earnings all moved up

Net fee income rose 6% to $37.3 million as higher average assets fed through. Profit before tax increased to $14.0 million, with underlying profit before tax at $16.2 million. EPS climbed to 21.6¢ (16.1p), while underlying EPS hit 25.1¢ (19.5p).

A note on currency: around a third of Group overheads are in sterling, and the US dollar weakened by about 4% on average versus sterling in the period (to 1.339 from 1.287). That makes UK costs look higher in dollar terms. Despite that headwind, margins held up well.

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Dividend held at 11p – dates you need

CLIG is keeping the interim dividend at 11p per share, consistent with its policy of 1.2x cover over a rolling five-year period based on underlying profits. To my mind, that’s a sensible, disciplined framework for a market-exposed fee business.

Ex-dividend date: 5 March 2026
Record date: 6 March 2026
DRIP election deadline: 13 March 2026
Payment date: 2 April 2026

Flows: why outflows rose and what to watch next

Group net flows were -$853 million. The biggest drags were CLIM Emerging Markets (-$511 million net flows) and International Equity (-$185 million), plus KIM Growth Balanced (-$71 million). These were largely client-driven allocation shifts, not poor performance.

Against that, performance added $1.0 billion at CLIM and $0.2 billion at KIM. If markets stay constructive and recent alpha persists, there’s scope for a flows recovery – but rebalancing risk remains after a strong 2025 rally.

Strategy performance: EM and Listed PE shine, Global Equity solid

CLIM highlights

Emerging Markets: +19.2% for the half, 540 bps ahead of benchmark; +41.9% for 2025. Outperformance driven by country allocation (overweight Vietnam, underweight India), discount management and strong NAV gains in key holdings.
Listed Private Equity: +20.1% for the half, outperforming by 1,620 bps, aided by a significant corporate action and improving realisations across the PE universe.
Global Equity: +14.2% for the half, 300 bps ahead; +29.6% in 2025, helped by discount volatility capture and modest underweights to the US with overweights to the UK, Japan and EM.
International Equity and Opportunistic Value: modest six-month underperformance (-40 bps and -90 bps), but solid annual returns (+36.4% and +17.7%).

KIM highlights

Fixed income strategies were steady, with municipal bond CEFs, preferreds and senior notes helping, and tender offers/liquidations adding tailwinds. Over five years, Taxable and Tax-Sensitive Fixed Income have outperformed benchmarks by 4.9% and 2.8% annually.
Equities underperformed modestly over six months, partly due to NAV softness in equity CEFs and a modest US overweight.

Costs, currency and balance sheet

Total administrative expenses were $24.4 million, broadly stable year-on-year. Cash ended the period at $32.8 million after paying a $14.0 million final dividend in November. Net assets stand at $150.6 million, with no impairments recognised.

Intangibles – mostly from the KIM merger – continue to amortise through the P&L ($2.8 million in the half). That’s non-cash and adjusted out of underlying profits, which is what the dividend policy references.

Shareholder returns versus target

CLIG targets a five-year annualised total shareholder return (TSR) of 7.5% to 12.5%. For the five years to 31 December 2025, TSR was 31.4% in total, or 5.6% annualised – below target. Since listing in 2006, annualised TSR is 11.8%, ahead of UK small cap indices cited in the RNS.

Translation: the long-term record remains attractive, but the most recent five-year window has lagged the internal goal. Sustaining alpha and stabilising flows are the levers to close that gap.

New CEO: what changes to expect

Chair Rian Dartnell flags a “busy and productive” period with a bigger leadership bench, productivity gains and more client engagement. Cooper Abbott’s first statement emphasises empowering teams, disciplined active management, and building on CLIM/KIM’s heritage.

Early days, but the direction of travel looks sensible: keep the investment engines focused, modernise operations, and lean into strategies where the firm has an edge – notably International and Emerging Markets, which together are 57% of FuM.

My take: why this update matters

Positive: Record FuM, higher fees and profits, and strong strategy performance – particularly in EM, Listed Private Equity and Global Equity. The maintained dividend underscores confidence.
Watch-outs: Net outflows of $853 million reflect client rebalancing after strong markets and some structural shifts (pensions/OCIO). Flow visibility is the near-term swing factor.
Macro sensitivity: With a third of costs in sterling and revenues largely in dollars, FX can nudge margins. The recent weaker dollar raised reported UK costs in USD terms.
Execution: If alpha persists and volatility stays elevated, CLIG’s discount-capture skillset can keep adding value. Converting performance into net inflows is the next test for the new CEO.

Key dates and details for income investors

Interim dividend: 11p per share
Ex-dividend: 5 March 2026
Record date: 6 March 2026
DRIP election: 13 March 2026
Payment: 2 April 2026

Bottom line

This is a strong set of half-year numbers from CLIG: record assets, improved profitability and standout performance in several strategies. The main blemish is net outflows, which management attributes to client-level allocation moves rather than performance issues. If the teams keep delivering alpha and markets remain supportive, flows can follow – and that’s where the share price narrative could brighten.