A resilient investment performance by Ashmore (ASHM) over the six months to December was blown off course by a sea-change in sentiment towards emerging markets. Sterling's rise against the dollar was also a problem, responsible for nearly three-quarters of the drop in profits, says finance director Tom Shippey. The shares plunged 8 per cent in morning trading and are now down a fifth this year.
The group's overall three-year investment performance remained impressive, with 95 per cent of assets outperforming relevant benchmarks - up from 92 per cent in June. Short-term performance was considerably weaker, however: for the six months to December, outperformance levels had fallen from 96 per cent to just 38 per cent, mainly as a result of poorly-performing local currency funds.
Assets under management had fallen 2.7 per cent to $75.3bn (£45.3bn) by the half-year mark as a result of fund outflows, but were 13 per cent higher than in the prior year, on average - helping lift management fee income by 1 per cent to £150m. However, this was more than offset by currency losses as well as a sharp decline in performance fees from £15.3m to £0.7m.
Analysts at broker Numis Securities are forecasting full-year pre-tax profits of £191.1m and EPS of 21.5p (from £257.6m and 28.5p in 2013).
| ASHMORE (ASHM) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 311p | MARKET VALUE: | £2.2bn | |
| TOUCH: | 311-312p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 436p | LOW: 311p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 5.2% | PE RATIO: | 12 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 85p | NET CASH: | £347m | |
| Half-year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 168 | 120 | 13.9 | 4.35 |
| 2013 | 155 | 80 | 9.2 | 4.45 |
| % change | -7 | -33 | -34 | +2 |
Ex-div: 5 Mar Payment: 11 Apr | ||||
