The hedge fund firm Man Group plc announced that it expects pre-tax profits for the year ending March 31 will be ahead of consensus market expectations.

The consensus market expectations of net management fee income and total pre-tax profits is US$678 million and US$1.2 billion, respectively. This is based on the average forecasts of 16 equity analysts that follow the firm.

Net management fee income will be in line with consensus market expectations, up by 15%, reflecting the increased level of funds under management, the firm said.

Although, it added, “Net performance fee income will be up strongly over last year and above consensus market expectations, reflecting good performance from all our main managers in the year, and at AHL in particular.”

The firm said that sales for the year are estimated to be US$9 billion, with 58% of that going to retail investor products and 42% to institutional products. Sales for the past three months are estimated to be US$3.4 billion.

Reflecting the level of sales, funds under management have risen and are currently estimated to be over US$48 billion, up from US$43 billion at March 31 2005 (US$45.8 billion at December 2005). Of that total, US$29 billion is retail and institutional products account for US$19 billion.

Also, continued organic growth in its brokerage division means net income there will be up by over 15%, excluding a small operating loss and the exceptional integration costs arising from the acquisition of Refco in November 2005. The Refco integration process is proceeding on track, it reported.

Man Group plc is a leading global provider of alternative investment products and solutions as well as one of the world’s largest futures brokers. It employs over 3,000 people in 15 countries, with key centres in London, Pfaffikon (Switzerland), Chicago, New York, Paris, Singapore and Sydney.