An asset management company set up by a one-time US vice-president and the son of one of England's most successful football managers almost quadrupled its profits last year and saw its turnover more than double in its fifth year of operation.

Generation Investment Management, the company launched in 2004 by Al Gore, Mark Ferguson, the son of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, and David Blood, the former chief executive of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, reported pre-tax profits of £31.9m for the calendar year 2009 in accounts filed with Companies House last week.