The slide in China's markets hit the profits of one of the larger asset management houses in Asia, although it was able to report more positive news in the form of net inflows.

Hong Kong-listed investment house Value Partners Group reported a 66 per cent slide in profits attributable to shareholders in 2015 from a year earlier, standing at HK273.6 million ($35.2 million), while revenues rose 10.6 per cent to HK1.768 billion, it said yesterday.

Performance fees dragged the profit figure down last year amid the stock market rout towards the latter part of last year, the firm said.

More positively, Value Partners reported a jump in net sales of 115 per cent to a record of $4 billion. At the end of 2015, assets under management rose 21 per cent year-on-year to $15.6 billion (note that AuM and inflow data are given in US, not Hong Kong, dollars).  

Reflecting on overall results, the firm said its core business remained “relatively solid”. Operating profit before share option expenses and other gains or losses, which reflects its core earnings, fell 18 per cent to HK$616 million from HK$754 million in 2014. Management fees, the group’s major revenue contributor, increased by 53 per cent to HK$1,145 million on the back of the growth in AuM, offsetting the decline in performance fees from HK$659 million to HK$309 million.

In October last year, the firm introduced Value Partners Multi-Asset Fund. It said it has received an encouraging response because investors want a vehicle to help them navigate through all market cycles, including a volatile environment.