19th Jun 2014 08:46
LONDON (Alliance News) - Liontrust Asset Management PLC Thursday said the fund management sector's opportunity to break into the UK post-retirement market has been given a boost by regulatory changes that remove the requirement for retirees to turn their pension pots into annuities.
Liontrust also outlined plans to expand its international presence, as it reported a swing to pretax profit in its last financial year.
In a statement, Liontrust said it made a GBP3.7 million pretax profit in the year ended March 31, compared with a GBP3.9 million pretax loss a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP28.5 million from GBP20.4 million. Administrative expenses were up by GBP585,000 to GBP24.6 million.
The fund manager has benefited from an increase in the funds it manages throughout the year, which grew to GBP3.61 billion, from GBP3.04 billion, on the back of GBP381.0 million of net inflows.
Liontrust tripled its full-year dividend to 3.0 pence.
Chief Executive John Ions said that a key contributor to Liontrust's growth has been the long-term performance of its fund-management teams, pointing to its UK equities offerings in particular.
"We have continued to broaden our client base and raise our profile over the past year, as shown by Standard Life choosing Liontrust to be one of the key fund management groups they are promoting through their account managers," Ions said in a statement.
While fund managers have seen the ageing population as an opportunity to grow as people take more responsibility for their planning prior to and after retirement, Ions welcomed the UK government's recent decision to give individuals more freedom in how to invest their pension pots.
"We are well positioned to take advantage of this with our strong range of equity income funds, our multi-asset/multi-manager proposition, and our expanding sales in the retail market," Ions said, referring to Liontrust's entry to the multi-asset/multi-manager arena through the acquisition of North Investment Partners Ltd in October 2013.
Chairman Adrian Collins echoed those sentiments, adding that the government's pension changes could lead to fund managers attracting billions of pounds in extra flows every year.
"We believe demand for multi-asset and multi-manager will continue to grow from financial advisers and private investors, especially among the post-retirement market following the government's recently announced annuity reforms," Collins said in a statement.
Even so, Ions also outlined plans to expand outside of the UK, in a move to boost its international presence.
"We see significant opportunities as well for distribution internationally, which until now has only contributed around 5% of our sales. We have been building our Dublin range of funds in anticipation of an expansion outside the UK," Ions said.
Liontrust shares were Thursday quoted at 261.75 pence, up 2.7%.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Liontrust Asset Management