Jupiter Fund Management PLC’s (LON:JUP) underlying profits for 2019 fell less than expected but the group may have disappointed some investors as it did not declare a special dividend.
The FTSE 250-listed asset manager declared a total dividend of 17.1p, down 40% compared to the prior year in light of its proposed £370mln acquisition of rival Merian Global Investors.
Assets under management were just above flat at £42.8mln after a strong year of investment performance helped offset net outflows of £4.5bn that almost entirely the result of the departure of star manager Alexander Darwall, who in July said he was stepping down from running the European and European Growth funds.
Net management fees shrank 6% to £370mln and Jupiter’s underlying profit before tax fell 11% to £162.7mln and statutory PBT tumbled 16% to £151mln.
Chief executive Andrew Formica said: “Jupiter delivered a resilient performance in 2019 despite a challenging backdrop.”
Amid the strong investment performance, he was pleased to see a strong return to net inflows for Jupiter’s fixed income strategy to help offset the Darwall-led outflows.
“Our assets under management and net management fee margin remained stable year on year, although a lower average assets under management resulted in a drop in net management fees and also our profitability.”
He said acquiring Merian could “help plug investment capability gaps” for Jupiter, take the manager into new areas such as global systematic equities, broaden its institutional client base and “support and accelerate other growth initiatives”.
Analysts at Shore Capital said underlying PBT was a 1% better than the consensus forecast, driven by better-than-expected management fees.