19th Sep 2014 08:27
LONDON (Alliance News) - Specialist bank and asset manager Investec PLC Friday hailed the completion of the bulk of its restructuring and reshaping, though it cautioned that first-half results have been hurt by the depreciation of rand against sterling.
In a statement, the Anglo-South African financial services group said it expects operating profit for the six months ending September 30 to be ahead of the corresponding period last year in sterling terms, and substantially ahead in rand.
Investec said it expects its wealth and investment division's results to increase substantially and asset management to report results ahead of the prior year. It said both divisions have been beneficiaries of higher levels of average funds under management, supported by net inflows of GBP800.0 million and GBP2.7 billion.
The South African specialist banking business is expected to report results "substantially ahead" of the prior year in rand terms, while the UK specialist banking business is expected to report results slightly behind the prior year, Investec said. It expects the global specialist banking business to report results ahead of the prior year.
Investec's measure of operating profit is on an adjusted basis for net profit before tax, goodwill, acquired intangibles and non-operating items but after adjusting for earnings attributable to other non-controlling interests and before non-controlling interests relating to asset management.
Investec expects revenue, net of depreciation on operating leased assets, to be "marginally" ahead of the prior year. It expects to see a 12% decrease in impairments, though it guided that expenses are set to be "marginally" higher.
Over the last year Investec has been simplifying and reshaping the group, most recently selling off its UK Kensington business and the Start mortgage business in Ireland.
"Whilst there are still some legacy assets remaining, the actions the group has taken to simplify its business has allowed the focus to shift to growing and building the franchise in the group's core areas of activity and improving returns to shareholders," Investec said in a statement.
Investec shares were Friday quoted up 0.2% at 558.50 pence.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Investec