Henderson moves back into profit
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Henderson Group has unveiled a £15.5m pre-tax profit in 2009 despite an 8 per cent fall in its recurring profit before tax.
The move into profit in 2009 compares with a £17m fall in 2008, while recurring profit fell from £80.4m to £73.7m.
Assets under management rose 17 per cent to £58.1 billion in 2009 while the firm also proposed a final dividend of 4.25 pence per share bringing the total dividend for the year to 6.1p a share.
The acquisition of New Star in April 2009 added £8.1 billion to the firm’s asset under management. The group was hit with £4.6 billion of net fund outflows which included a £4.2 billion outflow from Pearl as well as £1.1 billion from New Star Institutional Managers. Higher margin products produced inflows of £700m and institutional net inflows of £600m.
Overall higher margin assets are up £8.7 billion during the year, with New Star take-on representing 62 per cent of this increase.
Total fee income rose 5 per cent in 2009 to £283.3m. Revenues also rose to £24.9 billion from £16.5 billion in 2008, while performance fees fell slightly from £32m to £31.6m.
Henderson was also keen to highlight the improvement in the New Star UK fund range since it took on the business. The firm says 62% of the funds beat their benchmarks to 31 December 2009, compared with 13% at June 30, 2009.
Henderson Group chief executive Andrew Formica says: “Despite 2009 being a tough year, competitive long term investment performance, diversity of products, channels and geographical reach stood the business in good stead.
“Overall, investment performance, the lifeblood of the business, is the best I have seen for many years with 70 per cent of our funds beating their benchmark over one year and 64 per cent over three years. This has contributed to the positive net flows in our wholesale and institutional funds for the year.
“The acquisition and successful integration of New Star has significantly strengthened our UK retail franchise and we have already seen the benefits in our UK retail sales.”
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