UK-listed Liontrust Asset Management, the specialist investment business, said its pre-tax profits in the six months to 30 September slumped to £500,000 from £6.1 million in the same period a year ago, while performance fees fell to £2.2 million, down from £3.9 million.

Liontrust, which has seen a number of changes to its roster of fund managers this year, said funds under management stood at £1.3 billion at 30 September, a fall from £3.9 billion in 2008.

The business has made a number of changes this year. Former GAM senior manager Ross Hollyman, and a team of former GAM colleagues, have joined Liontrust. It also announced changes in the wake of the departure of prominent fund managers Jeremy Lang and William Pattisson this year. Gary West and James Inglis-Jones have taken over the management of the Liontrust First Income and First Large Cap funds. Anthony Cross and Julian Fosh have taken over the management of the First Growth Fund.

"The six months to 30 September 2009 marked the first stage in the rebuilding of Liontrust. The addition of a fixed income team and the recruitment of a global equities team have expanded our already strong fund management capability. This can be seen in the very good long-term performance that has been delivered by all our fund management teams,” said Nigel Legge, chief executive, in a statement today.

"We are well capitalised to rebuild Liontrust. We have no debt and hold net cash and financial assets of over £20 million. This gives us the resources to continue expanding and diversifying our fund management teams into new asset classes while maintaining our focus on having strong investment processes.

"We also plan to launch a number of funds over the next few months, including for the Fixed Income and Global Equities teams. We are well positioned to grow our assets under management,” Mr Legge said.

Elsewhere in its statement, Liontrust said it “continues to hold discussions with potential new fund management teams who fit the group's strong process-oriented approach. We will look to strengthen our fund management teams so they can, if appropriate, implement existing successful investment processes in other markets.”