Henderson shares hit as fund manager reports £4bn outflows
Henderson Group’s shares dropped three per cent on Thursday after the fund manager reported outflows of £4bn last year.
The figures
Assets under management (AUM) grew 10 per cent during the year, closing 31 December at £101bn, as market gains more than offset the net outflows.
The company reported underlying pre-tax profits of £212.7m, down three per cent from £220m in 2015.
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Henderson’s underlying diluted earnings per share (EPS) figure was also down, from 17.2p to 15.2p.
However, the board recommended a final dividend of 7.3p per share, taking to full-year total to 10.5p, ahead of 2015’s 10.3p.
At around noon, Henderson’s share price was down three per cent to 211p.
Why it’s interesting
Henderson is not alone in reporting outflows. Aberdeen Asset Management last week reported net outflows for 2016 of £10.5bn.
Aberdeen’s AUM figure also fell three per cent during the year.
Investment Association figures for 2016 show that, while total UK AUM grew by £117bn to £1.045 trillion, last year was the worst for sales since 2008.
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What the company said
Chief executive Andrew Formica said:
Henderson has delivered resilient financial performance in a year of extraordinary turbulence in politics and financial markets. It is testament to our strategic progress over the past three years that we report assets under management and management fees at record levels – progress that has enabled us to continue to move forward through the proposed merger with Janus Capital Group.