Gresham House assets grow steadily as ESG appetite endures
Gresham House reported steady growth in the first half of the year in a trading update this morning, as interest in ESG investment continued to push its assets under management higher.
The asset manager reported a 19 per cent rise in AUM to £4.7bn, with organic growth of £457m driven by its real estate division, including forestry, new energy, sustainable Infrastructure and housing.
It was largely driven by the firm’s £340m acquisition of Irish fund manager Appian Asset Management, completed at the end of last month.
The acquisition lifted Gresham House’s issued share capital to 3.3m ordinary shares and fed into its international expansion strategy, giving it an EU-based platform post-Brexit.
Gresham’s half year performance represented good progress towards delivering its commitment to achieve more than £6bn in assets under management by 2025, the firm said.
Following the end of the period, the asset manager also launched and closed a “significantly oversubsribed” fundraise of £100m for its energy storage fund, which it said underlines the growth potential of its battery energy storage projects.
The group said it was also on track to raise its second sustainable infrastructure fund in the second half of the year.
Analysts predict Gresham House is well positioned to capitalise on the increased demand for ESG and reach expected full year forecasts.
Wealth manager Cannacord Genuity said the trading update gives it “considerable confidence” in its full year forecasts for Gresham House.
“The Group’s stated “GH25″ targets are to achieve AUM of +£6bn by end of CY25 and operating margins of +40%. This implies EBITDA of c.£24m in the same year. We believe the progress to date indicates a pathway to at least achieving these targets and potentially exceeding them, subject to market conditions, etc,” analysts at Cannacord said.
“The depth and breadth of our investor base continues to increase, driven by appetite for our ESG-focused investment strategies and strong investment performance, and we are well on track to achieve our GH25 objectives,”chief executive officer Tony Dalwood said.
Shares in the company were up 0.54 per cent on the back of the update this morning.