Gartmore chief executive Jeff Meyer said his firm is susceptible to a takeover after it suffered outflows of £1.65 billion in the first half of the year, adding that Roger Guy remains committed after the controversial resignation of Guillaume Rambourg.

The management firm made net revenue of £113.2m in the first half of this year. The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were £38.8m in the first half of this year, but £54.8m reported in the last half of 2009. 

Mr. Rambourg was responsible for Gartmore’s AUM revenues and was suspended for breaking internal trading rules.

Meyer made the comments following loose speculation linking Henderson with a bid last week. He believes Gartmore is in a strong position to operate successfully as an independent business.  

Interim figures from Gartmore showed that assets under management (AUM) fell by 10% in the first six months of the year on the back of the sharp rise in outflows.    

The bulk of these outflows were within the firm's European business, followed by the resignation of Rambourg. The manager quit Gartmore after the FSA launched an investigation into his conduct after the firm suspended him for internal breaches.

Meyer admitted the first six months of the year were a challenge for the firm. Additionally 34% of business is in European equities and the debt problems in Europe also had a negative impact. The combination of the two issues made it a challenging period.

But Meyer drew some positives from the period. The financial results for the first six months of 2010 showed a satisfactory improvement with Ebita but the net sales were below expectations primarily due to the suspension and subsequent resignation of one of the portfolio managers. 

The company is now focused on regaining momentum and believe attractively positioned to benefit from the continuing demand for absolute return products and the general growth potential of UK retail business.