Burford Capital Ltd on Wednesday reported a turn to profit during the first quarter of 2025, driven largely by gains on its Petersen and Eton Park legal finance assets - two claims relating to the Republic of Argentina’s nationalisation of energy firm YPF SA.
The litigation finance provider with offices in London and New York said pretax profit for the three months that ended March 31 was $44.5 million, swung from a loss of $18.9 million the year before as total revenue for the quarter jumped to $118.9 million from $44.3 million.
This was primarily the result of unrealised gains excluding YPF-related assets swinging to $2.5 million from $30.0 million in losses the prior year, and unrealised gains on YPF-related assets rising to $55.4 million from $16.3 million.
Burford Capital swung to a first-quarter net income of $36.9 million on-year from a $17.5 million loss.
‘Burford delivered robust first quarter results in what is typically a lighter seasonal period, demonstrating the continued momentum of our portfolio. Both new business and realization activity were well above first quarter levels in recent years, establishing a great start to the year,’ said Chief Executive Officer Christopher Bogart.
‘We believe the uncorrelated nature of legal finance positions our business to perform through the volatile and uncertain market environment that investors face today. We remain focused on the core drivers of shareholder value discussed at our recent 2025 Investor Day: Growing the platform, turning the current portfolio into cash realizations and generating attractive returns on capital.’
Shares in Burford Capital were down 2.1% at 1,022.00 pence each in London on Wednesday afternoon. The stock is down 20% over the past year.
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