Hedge fund managers Winton and Aspect Capital, whose founders helped set up systematic trading pioneer AHL 30 years ago, have revealed the full extent of the pain inflicted by poor performance in a horrific year for computer-driven investors.

Pre-tax profits at Winton, the roughly $30bn computer-driven hedge fund manager, more than halved for the second year running in 2016, while revenues fell by a third on the back of negative performance.