F&C has weathered a pretty stormy couple of years and its demerger from Friends Provident was well timed to catch the revival of equity and bond markets that began last March.
What's more, the investment outcome in 2009 looked good and performance related management fees more than doubled to £18.7m. That helped to offset a drop in investment management fees and a penalty from sterling having recovered somewhat against the euro - 55 per cent of assets are euro denominated. It is also encouraging that, after the recent fund attrition, funds under management held fairly steady at £97.8bn. Indeed, the outflow of institutional funds has been reversed, with £2.5bn of new business coming in last year with a further £1.4bn in the pipeline. Add that to a £27.9m gain from a debt exchange plan, and F&C returned to profitability last year.
Still, management is taking a cautious line on prospects, although cost savings are coming through after its recent restructuring. The group is also in the process of bidding for Vienna-based asset manager, C-Quadrat. That move reflects F&C's ambitions to build a continental European presence.
JP Morgan Cazenove expects adjusted pre-tax profits for 2010 to rise from £41m to £46m, with EPS improving from 5.8p to 7p.
F&C ASSET MANAGEMENT (FCAM) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 67p | MARKET VALUE: | £327m | |
| TOUCH: | 66-67p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 94p | LOW: 54p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 9.0% | PE RATIO: | 21 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 117p* | NET DEBT: | 13% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | -106 | -16.4 | 11.0 | |
| 2006 | -30.5 | -4.9 | 11.0 | |
| 2007 | 25.9 | 3.54 | 6.00 | |
| 2008 | -67.3 | -10.7 | 6.00 | |
| 2009 | 8.70 | 3.24 | 6.00 | |
| % change | - | - | – | |
Ex-div: 24 Mar Payment: 07 May *Includes intangible assets of £802m or 165p per share | ||||
