# Burford Capital Net profit after tax up 130%

- Link: https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/burford-capital-net-profit-tax-130/412747315
- Published: 2018-03-14T07:14:57+00:00
- Author: Giles Arbor

**Burford Capital Limited** (LON:BUR), a leading global finance and investment management
firm focused on law, announced today its financial results for the year ended 31
December 2017.

**Financial Highlights [1]**

· Net profit after tax up 130% to $264.8 million (2016: $115.1 million)

o Operating profit up 132% to $289.0 million (2016: $124.4 million)

o 37.4% return on equity (2016: 21.1%)

· Income up 109% to $341.2 million (2016: $163.4 million), driven by 127% increase
in income from investments to $318.2 million (2016: $140.2 million)

o Realized gains from investments also more than doubled

o 20 different investments contributed to 2017’s realized net gains

o Unrealized gains remained generally consistent with prior year levels at 53% of
income

(2016: 54%) and 36% of investments (2016: 31%) notwithstanding Petersen impact

· Strong growth in earnings per share, up 126% to 127¢ (2016: 56¢)

· Record investment recoveries; robust organic cash generation of $362 million (
2016: $230 million)

· 20% increase in annual dividend proposed, to total FY17 dividend of 11.0¢ per 
share (2016: 9.15¢); final dividend of 7.95¢ payable on 22 June 2018 with record
date of 1 June 2018

· Persistent demand for Burford’s capital reflected in record new investment commitments
of $1.34 billion (2016: $378 million), sowing seeds for future profits

o Burford now has $3.3 billion invested in and available for investment in legal
finance in a widely diversified portfolio

· Assets under management in Burford’s investment management business increased 
to $1.7 billion (2016: $1.3 billion) and additional fundraising anticipated in 2018

· Active start to 2018, with $128.5 million committed to 12 new investments in the
first two months of the year compared to a single $1 million investment in the same
period last year

· Secondary market sale of Teinver investment agreed in March 2018 for $107 million
in cash – a $94.2 million investment gain and a 736% return on invested capital.

> **Sir Peter Middleton, Chairman of Burford Capital Limited, commented:**“Burford
> has experienced another record year, its eighth consecutive year of significant
> growth. Burford continues to lead its growing and evolving industry and looks 
> forward to continuing to innovate to meet its clients’ ever-expanding needs. The
> Board is grateful for the continued support of our shareholders and bondholders
> and is delighted to propose another increase in the dividend.”
> **Christopher Bogart, Chief Executive Officer of Burford, added:**“The past year
> saw an explosion of demand for Burford’s capital from clients around the world,
> including from our expansions into Asia and Europe. We met that demand by raising
> incremental capital on our balance sheet and by making robust use of our new investment
> management business. We grew our team by 23 people so that we now field a team
> of more than 90, including more than 40 experienced lawyers, and we have by far
> the largest capital base in the business. We are excited to continue to lead the
> legal finance industry into the future.”

[1] Figures for income, operating profit, profit before tax and profit after tax
in this release exclude the impact of amortisation of intangible asset and non-recurring
acquisition costs relating to the acquisition of GKC Holdings, LLC, investment banking
and brokerage fees and also exclude third-party interests in consolidated funds 
and are shown to assist in understanding the underlying performance of the Company.
Without those adjustments, profit after tax would have been $249.3 million, and 
the increase over 2016 would have been 129%.

Share on: