Impax Asset Management (IPX) focuses on investing in a more sustainable economy, and the emphasis is certainly paying off because in the year to September net inflows of £1.46bn helped to drive assets under management up to £12.5bn.
That’s a 72 per cent jump from the previous year but also includes £3.5bn, which came with the acquisition of Pax World Management last January. The purchase significantly enhanced the group’s exposure to US markets, and if Pax had been acquired at the start of the financial year, it would have contributed £73m in revenue and £21.5m of adjusted operating profits.
In the UK, there was renewed interest in its Irish UCITS fund platform, with growth sufficient to allow redemption of the seed capital allocated less than three years ago. Funds managed in mainland Europe also attracted increasing demand, particularly the water strategy managed for BNP Paribas Asset Management. This attracted net inflows of £740m, taking assets under management up to £3.3bn.
In the Impax listed equity division, another strong performance was spearheaded by its global opportunities strategy, where its exposure to healthcare, IT and financials generated a return of 20.4 per cent. Since its launch four years ago, total returns have reached 75.6 per cent against 62.1 per cent for the MSCI All Country World index.
| IMPAX ASSET MANAGEMENT (IPX) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 213p | MARKET VALUE: | £278m | |
| TOUCH: | 211-213p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 279p | LOW: 140p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.9% | PE RATIO: | 24 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 41p** | NET CASH | £15.5m | |
| Year to 30 Sep | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2014 | 20.4 | 3.54 | 2.78 | 1.4 |
| 2015 | 19.7 | 5.14 | 3.16 | 1.6 |
| 2016 | 21.1 | 5.20 | 3.62 | 2.1 |
| 2017 | 32.7 | 5.85 | 6.5 | 2.9 |
| 2018 | 65.7 | 14.6 | 9.0 | 4.1* |
| % change | +101 | +150 | +38 | +41 |
| Ex-div: | 7 Feb | |||
| Payment: | 15 Mar | |||
*Excludes special dividend of 2.6p per share announced at the half year **Includes intangible assets of £37.7m, or 29p a share | ||||
