Just one update today despite it being Thursday...

...which is usually a busy day for announcements for some reason and today was no exception to that. So if you think that will be of any interest to you then click below to read more.

Miton Group (MGR) the small (£70m Market cap / £50m Enterprise Value) fund management company, which entered the Compound Income Scores Portfolio (CISP) earlier this month, has today put out an update on their Assets under Management (AuM). These were up by nearly £1bn or a third to £3823m from £2905m last year. While average AuM for the year was £3,361 million (2016: £2,783 million) (+21%). They also had £19.9 million of cash balances as at 31 December 2017 (2016: £21.3 million) having bought back 15,152,963 shares which were then cancelled at a cash cost of £6 million, so obviously some good cash generation too along the way. They went onto say that overall financial performance is expected to be at least in line with management expectations.

Most of their funds seem to be outperforming and seeing inflows and this plus greater diversification in flows across multi-asset and the more recently launched single-strategy fund plus strong markets helps to explain the decent increase in AuM. This was best summed up by my the CEO & my former colleague, David Barron, when he said:

"In my first year as CEO, we have built momentum in the Group and broadened the business both in terms of client base and product, whilst intensifying our client centric approach. By offering a strongly-differentiated range of multi-asset and single strategy funds and positioning them as complementary to index based strategies, we are well-placed for the changes taking place in the UK asset management market. We have achieved strong investment outcomes for our clients and are building a resilient and diversified business.

"These factors have come together in a year of accelerated organic growth and strong cash generation, with record year end AuM and a robust cash position. As we enter 2018 our business momentum remains strong and we are a more balanced business than ever. We are well positioned for the future."

Overall I think they look quite good value on around 12 to 13x 2018's estimated eps with a decent forecast dividend yield of 3.5% too. The shares could perhaps test their recent highs around 42p in the run up to & over their figures perhaps. While longer term the 48-50p that they briefly achieved back in 2014 might be achievable as they seem to be on track to have increased their earnings by 40% & more than doubled the dividend since then. If they did get up there this could put them on a more average looking PE of 15 -16x with a still decent yield of 2.8%. Just my thoughts, not a buy recommendation as such and as always you should always do your own research.