Trading Update - Six months to 31 December 2025

City of London Investment Group PLC

19 January 2026

 

City of London Investment Group PLC

19 January 2026

CITY OF LONDON INVESTMENT GROUP PLC

("City of London" or "the Group" or "the Company" or "CLIG")

SIX MONTHS TO 31 DECEMBER 2025 TRADING UPDATE

City of London (LSE: CLIG), a leading specialist asset management group offering a range of institutional and retail products, provides a trading update for the six months ended 31 December 2025. The numbers that follow are unaudited.

Funds under Management ("FuM") increased by 4% to $11.2 billion as of 31 December 2025 as compared to $10.8 billion as of 30 June 2025. FuM growth has continued into 2026 with assets totaling $11.6 billion as of 15 January 2026.  

Investment Management Performance

Global markets resumed their risk-on phase in the second half of 2025. Equities built on gains from the first half of the year as the MSCI ACWI TR Index delivered an 11.4% return for the six months ending 31 December 2025. Bonds were broadly flat with the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Total Return Index gaining just 0.8% during the period. Commodities provided divergent performance with gold surging 30.7% while Brent oil lagged with a fall of 4.6%.

CLIM strategies performed reasonably well as indicated in the table below:

CLIM strategies	Performance	Benchmark	Difference
Emerging Markets	+19.2%	+13.8%	+540bps
International Equity	+11.9%	+12.3%	-40bps
Opportunistic Value	+5.0%	+5.9%	-90bps
Listed Private Equity	+20.1%	+3.9%	+1620bps

*The above returns are presented as net of fees performance figures. The CLIM Global Emerging Markets strategy is shown against the S&P Emerging Frontier Super Composite BMI Net TR Index, the CLIM Global Developed CEF International Equity Strategy is shown against the MSCI ACWI ex-US Net TR Index, the CLIM Opportunistic Value Strategy is shown against the Blended 50/50 MSCI AWCI/Bloomberg Global Aggregate Bond Index, and the CLIM Listed Private Equity Strategy is compared to an 8% annual hurdle rate Data is as of 31 December 2025. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Emerging Markets ("EM") as an asset class built on outperformance from the first half of the year to turn in a 13.8% return in the second half as measured by the MSCI Emerging Markets TR Index:

·    These gains were led by South Korea and Taiwan whose markets benefited from their technology bias and in particular, the artificial intelligence ("AI") theme.

·    CLIM's EM strategy outperformed the benchmark by an impressive 540 basis points. Performance was aided by strong country allocation as out of benchmark exposure to Vietnam and being underweight to the Indian market which underperformed were particularly beneficial.

·    The strategy also continued to benefit from a broad narrowing of closed-end funds ("CEF") discounts and corporate initiatives within the investment universe.

·    The CEF structure is arguably the best vehicle for delivering returns from active management and this was aptly demonstrated by strong net asset value ("NAV") performances over the period from several of our largest portfolio holdings.

International Equity and Opportunistic Value strategies posted modest underperformance:

·    International Equity benefitted from discount narrowing and positive country allocation but its exposure to UK and European smaller companies detracted from returns.

·    Opportunistic Value captured significant upside from discount movements, but this was offset by weakness in several alternative funds' NAV performance as well as being underweight in equities relative to its benchmark.

Listed Private Equity performed strongly:

·    Performance was meaningfully boosted by a corporate action from its largest holding which resulted in a significant uplift.

·    As the universe continues to trade at a wide discount, it's not unreasonable to expect such corporate initiatives to remain a feature of the landscape.

·    Similarly, investee funds continue to deliver from a NAV perspective and are beginning to benefit from an increased level of realisations among the private equity universe generally.

KIM strategies	Performance	Benchmark	Difference
Growth Balanced	+8.0%	+7.9%	+10 bps
Conservative Balanced	+6.3%	+6.2%	+10 bps
Tax-Sensitive Fixed Income	+4.3%	+4.6%	-30 bps
Taxable Fixed Income	+3.1%	+2.9%	+20 bps
Cash Management	+2.0%	+2.3%	-30 bps
Equities	+10.1%	+11.3%	-120 bps

*The KIM Fixed Income Strategy is shown against the Bloomberg Government/Credit Bond Index, the KIM Tax-Sensitive Fixed Income Strategy is shown against the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index, the KIM Growth Balanced Strategy is shown against the Blended 40% Bloomberg Government/Credit Bond Index/39% Russell 3000 Index/21% MSCI ACWI ex USA Net TR Index.  The KIM Conservative Balanced Strategy is shown against the Blended 60% Bloomberg Government/Credit Bond Index/26% Russell 3000 Index/14% MSCI ACWI ex USA Net TR Index. The KIM Equities Strategy is shown against the Blended 65% Russell 3000 Index/35% MSCI ACWI ex USA Net TR Index.  The KIM Cash Management Strategy is shown against the ICE BofA 1-3 Year US Treasury Index.

Fixed Income Commentary

·    During the six months, the 10-year US Treasury yield declined by 6 basis points, while the yield on 10-year AAA municipal bonds fell by 48 basis points.

·    Within fixed income, key performance drivers included municipal bond CEFs, which benefited from strong NAV appreciation and narrowing discounts, as well as preferred securities and senior notes issued by CEFs and business development companies ("BDCs").

·    Conversely, while performing in line with our expectations, pre-acquisition SPACs detracted from performance due to their shorter duration relative to the benchmark.

·    Additional performance tailwinds came from significant tender offers executed near NAV and liquidations of CEFs.

·    While short-term results are important, KIM's long-term performance remains standout and over the past five years, the Taxable Fixed Income and Tax-Sensitive Fixed Income strategies have outperformed their respective benchmarks by 4.91% and 2.80% annually.

Equity Commentary

·    International equities returned 12.3% over the second half of 2025, outpacing US equities which returned 10.8%.

·    Equity CEFs modestly underperformed primarily due to poor NAV performance.  A modest overweight to US stocks also detracted from performance relative to the benchmark.

Flows

·    Strong market and investment returns over the six months led to net outflows from client rebalancing, asset allocation changes, and capital needs.

·    Net investment outflows were $853 million for the Group over the period, led by CLIM EM, International Equity and KIM Growth Balanced strategies.

·    Most client outflows were driven by two main factors:

o  Portfolio rebalancing, where strong performance and asset‑allocation reviews prompted shifts back to target weights.

o  Strategic or structural changes, such as pension funds reaching funded status and moving to liability matching strategies; consultant changes, particularly for OCIO clients, which often catalyse pre-determined manager changes; transitions to passive strategies resulting in the liquidation of active mandates and withdrawals to meet funding or cash‑flow needs for capital projects.

The majority of strategies are currently reporting higher FuM levels than at the year end, reflecting the impact of favourable market conditions and investment team performance. These results highlight the stability of the portfolios during a period of mixed flow activity.

Investment teams have delivered measurable alpha across multiple strategies.

Even in this environment where some clients are taking profits, CLIM recorded $100 million in gross inflows, driven primarily by continued demand for EM and International Equity strategies. KIM recorded $147 million in gross inflows predominantly across the Taxable Fixed Income, Tax Sensitive Fixed Income and Growth Balanced strategies. This activity indicates sustained client engagement with these offerings.

Persistent discount volatility and strong outperformance of the Group's strategies continue to shape our marketing efforts, supported by a rising level of interest in the markets where we offer our products.

A breakdown of FuM by strategy follows:

	FuM ($ million)
	Jun-25 Actual	Inflows	Outflows	Net Flows	Market & investment performance	Dec-25 (estimate)
CLIM
Emerging Markets	3,674	64	(575)	(511)	661	3,824
International Equity	2,486	31	(216)	(185)	275	2,576
Opportunistic Value	309	5	(10)	(5)	12	316
Listed Private Equity	218	-	(38)	(38)	41	221
Other*	150	-	-	-	47	197
Total CLIM	6,837	100	(839)	(739)	1,036	7,134
KIM
Growth Balanced	1,419	35	(106)	(71)	100	1,448
Conservative Balanced	1,143	27	(47)	(20)	76	1,199
Tax-Sensitive Fixed Income	528	35	(41)	(6)	179	701
Taxable Fixed Income	707	42	(48)	(6)	(129)	572
Cash Management	101	7	(17)	(10)	3	94
Equities	79	1	(2)	(1)	10	88
Total KIM	3,977	147	(261)	(114)	239	4,102
Total Group	10,814	247	(1,100)	(853)	1,275	11,236

* Includes Frontier and alternatives

Funds under Management figures are rounded

For further information, please visit https://www.clig.com/ or contact:

Rian Dartnell, Chairman

City of London Investment Group PLC

Tel: [phone]

Martin Green, Louisa Waddell

Zeus Capital Limited

Financial Adviser & Broker

Tel: [phone]

This release includes forward-looking statements, which may differ from actual results.  Any forward-looking statements are based on certain factors and assumptions, which may prove incorrect, and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to future events, the Group's operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

The information contained in this document is intended for infor-mation purposes only. This document does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor will any sale of a security occur in any jurisdiction where such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

 

END