The Pinnacle Investment Management Group Ltd (ASX: PNI) share price has been a strong performer on Thursday.
In morning trade the investment company's shares were up as much as 10% to $5.50 before giving back some of these gains.
The Pinnacle share price is up 4.5% to $5.24 at the time of writing. This gain has lifted the company's year to date gain to just under 12%.
Why is the Pinnacle share price charging higher?
Investors have been buying the investment company's shares following the release of a solid half year result this morning.
For the six months ending December 31, the company reported a sizeable 32.6% increase in revenue on the prior corresponding period.
On the bottom line, Pinnacle posted a profit of $13.8 million and diluted earnings per share of 7.7 cents. This is a 36.6% and 35% increase, respectively, on the prior corresponding period.
This allowed the Pinnacle board to declare a fully franked interim dividend of 6.9 cent per share. This represents a payout ratio of 90% of its diluted earnings per share. This dividend will be payable on March 20 to shareholders registered on the record date of March 6.
A key driver of its solid result was an increase in aggregate affiliates' funds under management. These increased by 13% during the half year from $54.3 billion at June 30 to $61.6 billion at December 31. Aggregate Retail funds under management have now hit $14.9 billion. This is up 28% from $11.6 billion at the end of June.
Management appears optimistic this solid form will be sustained and has continued to invest in medium term Horizon 2 initiatives. This includes offshore distribution, ETF, direct to retail consumers, and servicing new, not-yet-profitable Affiliates.
It believes these initiatives are laying the foundation for future revenue growth. Judging by its share price jump today, it appears as though investors agree with this view.
