A Morgan Stanley equity analyst has questioned the sustainability of profits at UK-listed hedge fund manager Man Group, after its flagship AHL Diversified fund suffered its worst start to the year in a decade.

Morgan Stanley analyst Bruce Hamilton voiced concern about the profitability at the company, whose market cap is £4.7bn (€5.4bn), in a research note last week after calculating that AHL, Man's $20.4bn flagship trading programme, was now responsible for three quarters of its profits.