I suspect trading tomorrow will probably answer this conundrum, but I know there are some far wiser owls than me that contribute to this bb & I would be interested in their opinions.

My question is this: the chart below looks to me like a pullback of the uptrend (ie when it went north through 14.00) however I am unsure as it has now broken down through 14.00 whether this is trending up or down :-(

So what do you think - up or down, or should I just flip a coin :-)) ?

Interesting RNS

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5089864

Stuck in a trading range since August. Interim next week 15th. Wee punt long @ 156.97 initial target 180 stop 149p

Interim next week??? See post 906 above.

55011 - It's a punt. Q3 Interim Management Statement Thursday 15th October 2015.

Stop to entry for risk free trade. Don't trust this market. Review Monday.

StockMarketWire.com
Man Group's funds under management fell to $76.8bn at 30 September - down from $78.8bn at the end of June.

Key points:
- Net inflows in the quarter of $1.4 billion, comprising sales of $5.7 billion and redemptions of $4.3 billion with net inflows into quant and discretionary strategies being partially offset by net outflows from fund of funds strategies

- Overall investment movement of negative $2.7 billion in the quarter driven by negative market movements in GLG's and Numeric's long only strategies, partially offset by positive performance across AHL's strategies

- FX translation effects of negative $0.6 billion in the quarter, driven by the strengthening of the US dollar against Sterling ($0.4 billion) and the Australian Dollar ($0.3 billion), partially offset by Japanese Yen strengthening against the US Dollar ($0.1 billion)

- Other movements of negative $0.1 billion with CLO and guaranteed product maturities of $0.4 billion being partially offset by investment exposure adjustments of $0.3 billion

* Good year to date relative performance across the majority of strategies. Asset weighted net outperformance for GLG's long only and Numeric's strategies of approximately 2.1%1 and 3.7%1 respectively for the year to 30 September 2015 Chief executive Manny Roman said: "Despite the extreme market movements in late August impacting absolute performance across our long only strategies, we have seen good relative performance across the majority of our strategies for the year to date.

"The net inflow for the quarter was driven by flows into our quant strategies and we have a solid pipeline of sales in the near-term. Quarterly flows will continue to be lumpy in nature, particularly in respect of certain FRM managed account mandates that are yet to fund, and the exact timing of which remains to be confirmed.

"The political uncertainties and economic upheaval in parts of the world continue to provide a very challenging market backdrop for our business. Accordingly, the risk appetite of our clients may impact flows, but we remain focused on continuing to generate attractive investment returns across our range of strategies."

StockMarketWire.com
Jefferies has upgraded its recommendation on hedge fund giant Man Group (LON:EMG) to buy from hold which it said was after remodelling its assumptions to take account of higher than previously forecasted net fee attrition and some additional capital expenditure.

The broker added: "But we view net flow into lower net fee but more persistent institutional funds as being value creative over time and Man Group should be viewed as a benefitting from a higher quality income stream."

Analysts have upped their target price to 187 pence a share from 169 pence.

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5146094

CitiBank note today:
"Upgrade to Buy — We raise our management fee EPS forecasts by 6%-17%, and set a new DCF-based 186p price target. At this target, Man would trade at 12.0x 2017E PE, a 14% discount to peers. Upgrade to Buy from Neutral/High Risk: Man Group share price volatility has reduced, and so we remove our High Risk rating.
 Yield and Growth — We forecast 14% CAGR 2015-18E in management fee EPS and therefore in DPS too. 10.4c 2016E DPS = 7.1p, i.e. a 4.3% dividend yield. Man offers a strong, growing yield, well covered by total EPS (1.7x 20).
Comfortable with AHL — AHL accounts for 20%-25% FUM and we forecast will generate 35%-40% net revenue 2016E-18E. In this note we take a ‘deep dive’ into AHL and our confidence in a stable flow and returns outlook. We set out Bull (254p) Bear (113p) Base (186p) valuations.
Hidden Value — This confidence in AHL allows us not only to factor fund flow, performance fee and share buyback expectations into our forecasts, but also to turn our attention to GLG, FRM and Numeric for future additional growth potential.
 Regulation — We expect asset managers to face increasing regulatory scrutiny in 2016-2017. We see Man well placed for this, thanks to its strong balance sheet, large size compared to other hedge funds, and its relatively low exposure to those segments of the industry where we expect to see the greatest operational impact.
 Mainstream Future — As hedge fund investing heads for a more mainstream and transparent future, we see larger, managed account and full service providers like Man Group best placed to win fund flows from institutional investors."

StockMarketWire.com
Man Group's funds under management rose by 8% to USD78.7 billion in the year to the end of December.

Gross sales totalled $22.9 billion (2014: $21.9 billion); redemptions totalled $22.6 billion (2014: $18.6 billion) and there were net inflows of $0.3 billion (2014: net inflows $3.3 billion).

Other key points:
- Investment movement of $2.4 billion (2014: $3.6 billion)

- FX translation effects and other movements of -$3.0 billion (2014: -$4.3 billion)

- Acquisition of Silvermine, NewSmith and the BAML fund of hedge funds portfolio completed during the first half of the year, adding $6.1 billion to FUM.

Man reports an adjusted profit before tax of $400 million compared with $481 million in 2014.Statutory PBT fell to $184 million from $384 million).

The proposed final dividend of 4.8 cents per share takes the total dividend for the year to 10.2 cents (2014: 10.1 cents).

Chief executive Manny Roman said: "Against a backdrop of challenging market conditions, 2015 was another year of good progress for Man Group. We have delivered against our strategic objectives, continuing to enhance our investment capabilities through the successful integration of three acquisitions that completed in the first half of the year and the appointment of some high calibre investment managers to the firm. FUM increased by 8% driven by acquisitions and flows were slightly positive in the year with net inflows of $2.9 billion in the second half. "Looking forward, the on-going volatility in the markets in which we operate remains very challenging and, accordingly, the risk appetite of our clients might impact flows. However, we now have a more diversified offering and a range of attractive options for growth, which have strengthened the firm and enhanced our resilience as a business."

Credit Suisse today reaffirms its outperform investment rating on Man Group PLC (LON:EMG) and cut its price target to 170p (from 180p).

Barclays Capital today reaffirms its equal weight investment rating on Man Group PLC (LON:EMG) and cut its price target to 165p (from 177p).

Bloomberg Business:
"Man Group Plc, the world’s largest publicly traded hedge fund firm, hired former Millennium Capital Management money manager Abhijeet Gaikwad as it seeks to build a new quantitative-investment unit.
The firm started hiring for the Oxford, England-based “quantitative incubating” unit last month, according to a spokeswoman. Sanatan Rai, who previously worked at BlueCrest Capital Management, has also joined as a money manager.
The unit will give capital to individual money managers to use mathematical models to trade across asset classes. It’s part of Man Group’s $17 billion AHL division that uses computer-driven strategies and is led by Francois Moreau and Jaco Vermaak, according to a person familiar with the matter. Three more money manages are expected to join this year, said the person, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
The Man Group spokeswoman declined to comment on hiring plans.
Man Group managed $78.7 billion in assets at the end of last year and has been hiring money managers to diversify its business. It has benefited from a mounting regulatory burden that’s forcing many traders to abandon plans to start their own funds and instead join existing firms. Investors are also becoming reluctant to give money to startups.
The expansion at AHL is similar to the growth at Man Group’s GLG unit that uses fundamental analysis and has employed more than half a dozen money managers since 2014. It hired former Moore Capital Management LP money managers Rory Hill and Ben Lynch this year, as well as Guillermo Osses, who helped oversee more than $20 billion at HSBC Asset Management."

Ex-divi Thurs 21st April 2016 (3.4p)

StockMarketWire.com
Man Group's funds under management fell to $78.6 billion at the end of March from $78.7 billion at the end of December.

The group reports net inflows in the quarter of $0.5 billion, comprising sales of $5.1 billion and redemptions of $4.6 billion.

Chief executive Manny Roman said: "Against the backdrop of challenging market conditions for the global investment management industry, we have delivered results for the first three months of the year that demonstrate the value and benefits of a diversified business model. Investment performance across our quantitative strategies and net inflows meant that group funds under management remained stable over a highly volatile quarter.

"The ongoing uncertainty in the markets remains challenging and, accordingly, the risk appetite of our clients has the potential to impact flows. However, the ongoing diversification of our business has enhanced our resilience as a firm, and positions us well to navigate the current economic climate. As we have previously indicated, we continue to explore new options for growth, both organically and by acquisition, within our disciplined financial framework."

Other key points: - Net inflows across quant alternative ($1.3 billion) and for quant long only strategies ($0.4 billion), partially offset by;

- Net outflows from discretionary alternative ($0.6 billion), discretionary long only ($0.5 billion), and guaranteed products ($0.1 billion);

- Net flows for fund of fund alternatives flat for the quarter

* Overall investment movement of negative $0.7 billion in the quarter:

- Positive investment performance across AHL's range of strategies, adding $0.8 billion to FUM, more than offset by;

- Negative investment performance for GLG, mainly across their long only strategies, reducing FUM by $1.5 billion;

- Investment performance for Numeric and FRM broadly flat for the quarter

* FX movements of positive $0.8 billion in the quarter, primarily driven by the weakening of the US Dollar against the Japanese Yen and Euro

* Other negative movements of $0.7 billion in relation to negative investment exposure adjustments ($0.4 billion) and CLO and guaranteed product maturities ($0.3 billion)

CitiGroup note:
"Since mid-February, AHL Diversified has fallen 13% and we estimate is 15% below performance high water marks. Alpha and Dimension are also down and we estimate are just below high water marks. Only Evolution ($2.9bn of total $19.2bn AHL FUM) remains 4% above high water marks. In contrast, at 31 Mar 16, 71% AHL was at or above high water.
Without AHL, performance fee generation looks challenged. There is little help elsewhere. At 31 Mar 16, 9% performance fee eligible GLG FUM was at high water mark, and the asset weighted relative performance at Numeric was -0.7% Q1. We reduce our Performance Fee PBT forecast from $181m 2016E to $64m. This is the main driver of a new lower $236m 2016E PBT forecast, down 35% from $361m.
Dead Zone Man reports 1H16 results on 26 July. Until then, we are in a news “dead zone” with the only accessible data being fund performance. We expect AHL and GLG performance prints to drive share price direction during this time.
Key Risk: M&A We liked the acquisition of Numeric in 2014, which successfully helped plug an underlying earnings growth gap. With ca. $500m surplus capital and no share buy back this year, Man has firepower to do something similar again. This would be, in our view, the best solution to the fundamentally subdued FUM and earnings growth outlook in Man’s core franchises. But we see execution as unlikely.
Double Downgrade We upgraded Man to Buy in December, reflecting EPS growth, dividend yield, our (incorrect) view that AHL is now less volatile and the potential for Man to become a full service alternative investment solutions provider. We see this still as a potential long term outcome, but believe we were wrong on the rest. AHL volatility and lack of flow or performance elsewhere mean we now forecast -43% YoY EPS 2016E. We see the shares fully valued at 17.3x 2016E PE. We Downgrade to Sell, with a new 120p target, in line with lower EPS forecasts."

Barclays Capital today reaffirms its equal weight investment rating on Man Group PLC (LON:EMG) and set its price target at 145p.

Jefferies International today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Man Group PLC (LON:EMG) and cut its price target to 141p (from 180p).

Barclays Capital today reaffirms its equal weight investment rating on Man Group PLC (LON:EMG) and set its price target at 130p.

Macquarie today downgrades its investment rating on Man Group PLC (LON:EMG) to neutral (from outperform) and cut its price target to 147p (from 176p).

Citigroup today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Man Group PLC (LON:EMG) and set its price target at 145p.

Man Group, the world's largest listed hedge fund, has had its target price lifted to 155p from 145p by brokerage Societe Generale, which reiterated its 'Buy' rating on the stock.
The rise in target price reflected the brokerage's earnings per share (EPS) adjustments for Man; down 2.7% to 0.098p for full-year 2016, up 5.1% to 0.152p for 2017 and up 6.2% to 0.187p for 2018.
"We upgraded Man to 'Buy' last month ... highlighting the improvement in its risk profile following a change to a largely institutional client base in the last four years," said Societe Generale equity analyst Michael Sanderson.
"Better-than-anticipated net inflows of $1.3bn reflected this," he said in a statement.
Sanderson further noted Man's acquisition of real asset-focused investment manager Aalto was set to bring future accretion.

By Lee Wild | Fri, 18th November 2016 -
Oh Man!

We asked last month whether the worm had turned at hedge fund manager Man Group (EMG). Five weeks and a US presidential election later, and it's still unclear.

However, the share price is up over 20% since the June low, which is enough for finance chief Jonathan Sorrell, who's trousered over £800,000 after selling 639,489 shares at just over 125p a pop.

Recent third-quarter results were OK. Hearing news of a bigger-than-expected increase in third quarter assets under management (AUM) and new share buyback programme, investors chased the shares up around 16%. And they've held up pretty well since.

"The shares are looking cheap, but it looks too early as we may well have further impairments to come from an acquisition policy that has proved ineffective," warned finnCap's respected financials analyst Jeremy Grime. We'll see.