Sir Paul Marshall’s hedge fund, Marshall Wace, is seeing profits fall
- Marshall Wace was co-founded by GB News contributor Sir Paul Marshall
Hedge fund Marshall Wace has reported that profits have fallen again after a huge drop in performance fees.
The investment company, co-founded by GB News co-founder Sir Paul Marshall, announced that pre-tax profits fell 64 percent to £192 million in the year ending February 2024.
Turnover fell 38 per cent to £768.9 million, mainly due to performance fees, which investment managers receive for generating returns, falling by around £435 million to just £163 million.
The Eureka and TOPS funds returned 4.6 percent and 7.7 percent respectively, which is significantly below the double digits that hedge funds typically achieve.
This is the second year in a row that Marshall Wace’s profits have fallen significantly, after pre-tax profits fell by more than a quarter to £539 million in the 2023 financial year.
The group’s final profits will be split among its 24 partners, including Marshall and co-founder Ian Wace, with one unnamed member receiving a £74 million payout.
Results: Hedge fund Marshall Wace has reported another decline in profits after a huge drop in performance fees
Marshall and Wace started their eponymous company in 1997, partly with backing from prominent Hungarian-born financier George Soros.
It has now grown into one of Britain’s largest hedge funds with more than $69 billion in assets, more than 700 employees and offices in major cities including London, New York and Abu Dhabi.
The expansion was led by the development of a computerized trading strategy that analyzes stock recommendations from analysts and private equity giant KKR, which built a 35 percent stake in the company.
Lord Paul, 65, whose son is former Mumford & Sons banjoist Winston, is chairman and chief investment officer of Marshall & Wace.
He has used his financial success from the company to become one of Britain’s most generous philanthropists.
The tycoon founded school academy provider ARK and has donated tens of millions to the London School of Economics, home to the Marshall Institute for Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship.
Marshall is also building a media empire, backing news and opinion website UnHerd and television channel GB News.
He acquired The Spectator Magazine for £100 million last year after an Abu Dhabi-backed bid to take over the right-wing publication along with the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph failed.
Previously a Liberal Democrat supporter, Marshall later switched to the Conservative Party and supported Brexit in the 2016 European Union membership referendum.
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