Burford Capital achieves double-digit rise in interim revenue

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Burford Capital Ltd on Tuesday reported a swing to interim profit and a rise in revenue, citing a 31% increase in capital provision income.

For the six months that ended on June 30, the London-based litigation finance, risk management and asset recovery company posted a pretax swing to profit of $11.2 million from a loss of $20.4 million a year ago, as revenue rose by 15% to $105.9 million from $91.9 million.

Capital provision income rose by 31% to $110.3 million from $84.4 million.

The company's group-wide portfolio grew to $5.5 billion at June 30, compared to $5.1 billion at December 31, driven by new commitments.

Operating income during the six months surged to $51.7 million from $7.2 million a year, arising from ‘higher capital provision income and lower operating expenses due primarily to an outsized legacy asset recovery charge in H1 2021,’ the company explained.

Chief Executive Officer Christopher Bogart said: ‘The first half of 2022 saw substantial progress towards what we envision as a robust post-Covid-19 pandemic future for Burford. Court activity gradually resumed, and despite backlogs we started to see progress in a number of pending matters, translating into a 31% increase in consolidated capital provision income.’

Burford Capital declared an interim dividend of 6.25 US cents per share, payable on December 1.

Looking ahead, Burford Capital said it expects to produce more than $50 million in profit in the second half of the year.

Shares were down 1.0% at 885.00 pence each on Tuesday afternoon in London.

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