Liontrust Asset Management (LIO) built on a solid first-half performance to more than double adjusted pre-tax profits to £8.4m for the full year. Assets under management grew 19 per cent to £3.6bn. Crucially, there was a £381m net inflow of funds, though that was down from £514m a year earlier. Net cash grew by 55 per cent, and the adjusted operating margin rose from 20 to 30 per cent.
There were several key drivers behind the improved performance, not least the excellent contribution from the fund management teams. Liontrust Special Situations Fund, for example, is currently ranked fourth out of 194 funds in the IMA UK All Companies sector since its launch in 2005. There was an additional boost from a decision by Standard Life (SL.) to choose Liontrust as one of the fund management groups it is promoting. With a strong retail franchise, Liontrust should benefit from recent changes in the pensions market, most notably the removal of the obligation to buy an annuity.
Analysts at Numis have upgraded their forecasts to reflect the strong performance, and now expect pre-tax profits for the current year of £11.2m and EPS of 19.6p (from 15.1p in 2014).
| LIONTRUST ASSET MANAGEMENT (LIO) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 257p | MARKET VALUE: | £109m | |
| TOUCH: | 253-257p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 284p | LOW: 188p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.2% | PE RATIO: | 39 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 49p* | NET CASH: | £12m | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 13.2 | 1.0 | 3.6 | 2.5 |
| 2011 | 8.9 | -5.1 | -14.7 | nil |
| 2012 | 13.7 | -1.6 | -0.7 | nil |
| 2013 | 20.4 | -3.9 | -11.2 | 1 |
| 2014 | 28.5 | 3.7 | 6.6 | 3 |
| % change | +40 | - | - | +200 |
Ex-div: 2 Jul Payment: 30 Jul *Includes intangible assets of £7.4m, or 18p a share | ||||
