If you’d invested in: Man Group and Provident Financial

published 12 January 2018

Investment firm Man Group (LSE: MAN) is the world's largest publicly traded hedge-fund company with more than $100bn in funds under management and more than 1,000 employees around the world.

It was founded in the 18th century as a sugar-trading operation and for almost 200 years was the exclusive supplier of rum to the Royal Navy. It recently became the first foreign firm to launch a hedge fund in China. The last year has seen a steady rise of over 67% in its shares.

Be glad you didn't

And a series of setbacks, including investigations by the regulator and two profit warnings in the space of three months, led to its expulsion from the FTSE 100 in 2017. The last year has seen almost 70% wiped off its value.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Explore More

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin.

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.