A solid performance in emerging markets helped asset manager Ashmore (ASHM) boost assets under management by 12 per cent over the reported period to $58.7bn (£44.9bn) at the end of June. The rise included a $4.2bn positive market performance and, crucially, a net funds inflow of $1.9bn.
However, net management fee margins fell from 55 to 52 basis points mainly as a result of a change in the investment mix that saw growth in lower-margin strategies, and lower average assets under management in higher-margin asset classes such as equities and multi-asset funds.
Management fee income grew by 13 per cent to £222m, while performance fee income nearly trebled to £28.3m from the 12 per cent of assets under management that are eligible to earn such fees. On top of this, sterling’s weakness against the dollar translated into a gain of £7.8m, although this was pared back to £5m after net realised and unrealised hedging losses were taken into account.
Consolidating its US operations into its New York operating hub and other cost-saving measures helped to fund continued investment in fast-growing business in areas such as Columbia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, and cost inflation was limited to 7 per cent.
Analysts at Numis are forecasting pre-tax profit for the year to June 2018 of £167.8m and EPS of 18.9p (from 23.7p in FY2017).
| ASHMORE (ASHM) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 340.7p | MARKET VALUE: | £2.43bn | |
| TOUCH: | 340.1-341.4p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 380p | LOW: 269p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.9% | PE RATIO: | 14 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 102p | NET CASH: | £433m | |
| Year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2013 | 356 | 258 | 30.0 | 16.1 |
| 2014 | 294 | 172 | 19.5 | 16.45 |
| 2015 | 268 | 181 | 20.3 | 16.65 |
| 2016 | 212 | 167.5 | 19.1 | 16.65 |
| 2017 | 257 | 206.2 | 25.1 | 16.65 |
| % change | +22 | +23 | +31 | - |
| Ex-div: | 2 Nov | |||
| Payment: | 1 Dec |
