Schroders sees its profits double

Half year profits have more than doubled at Schroders

Fund management company Schroders has reported half-year results ahead of market expectations.

Pre-tax profits for the six months to June have more than doubled to £61m ($111m) from £27.2m in the same period in 2003, the company said.

Schroders, one of the oldest names in the City of London, said funds under its management reached £100bn at the end of June, up from £99bn in December.

The firm said markets were improving and it was winning more business.

"Overall, good investment performance was achieved across a range of UK and European equity products, Japanese equities, small cap equities globally and international fixed outcome," Schroders said.

The company said some of its clients, such as pension funds, were stripping away business spread across classes of assets.

But higher-margin specialist trading in shares and bonds was picking up the slack, it said.

Overall, there was a net outflow of funds totalling £1.3bn so far in 2004, against a net inflow of £200m a year earlier.