8th Jul 2005 10:00
Stock Exchange Announcement Liontrust Asset Management PLC Annual General Meeting Chairman's Statement "As I said in my statement in the Company's Annual Report and Accounts, I ampleased to be able to report good financial progress for the fifth year insuccession even though performance has been more mixed than in previous years.Particularly notable among the metrics that we use to measure our progress hasbeen the rise in core operating profit per head by ‚£75,000 to ‚£272,000, therise in core revenue per head by ‚£191,000 to ‚£743,000 and the 4% fall inoperating costs outside compensation. I hope the recommended 43% rise individend will be welcomed by shareholders. Even after paying the dividend wewill have achieved a 42% rise in shareholders funds.On 7th July 2005 funds under management stood at ‚£4.381 billion. They havefallen as a result of the withdrawal of a number of pension fund mandates overthe last year. In such a competitive field a period of underperformance, forwhatever reason, often leads to pension fund mandates being withdrawn.A net ‚£137 million of pension fund assets were withdrawn in the last threemonths with a further ‚£45 million due to leave by the end of July and we haveseen net redemptions of ‚£55 million from our unit trusts over the same period.We have still managed to maintain a healthy level of gross sales however.As I referred to in my statement in the Annual Report, the Growth and Large Capprocesses, as measured by the unit trusts based on them, have underperformedtheir benchmarks in the last couple of years. However, both processes have goodlong term records and we are confident that they will perform well again.I also mentioned in my statement in the Annual Report that Liontrust intends tomove into new asset classes by attracting new investment talent in order tobroaden the product range. Any move to build up a new asset class will be madeafter careful deliberation and assessment.We have determined that new developments of this kind must pass five tests:1 Not put at risk our existing business.2 Be capable of having a documented investment process applied to it.3 Be capable of being sold into both retail and institutional client groups.4 Be achieved with small numbers of people (we have nine individuals in ourfund management function).5 Be scalable at similar margins as our existing business.We believe these parameters will help us make the next phase of our developmentsuccessful. The actual asset class is less important. The objective is to be abroader based business. As I said in my statement we are excited about movingthe business forward, see opportunities to do so and have been exploring anumber of initiatives. As part of this process, we still believe we need toidentify new employee incentive schemes that will reward strong futurecorporate performance. Your Board's objective is to enhance the Company's valueand we have an excellent base from which to build. I look forward to lettingshareholders know of progress in due course.Our business is in very good shape. We have 24,000 investors, 5,000intermediaries with whom we regularly communicate, 60 pension funds, 15distribution platforms that accommodate our products, over ‚£4 billion in assetsand good long term investment performance. We have 37 people. We also havelevels of service and administrative accuracy that is regarded as amongst thebest in the industry.We have a highly efficient fund management business. We now have a greatopportunity to expand into other asset classes and we have a capable anddetermined management team to do it. I look forward to working with them andwitnessing at close hand what unfolds."Note to EditorsFor further information please contact:Liontrust Asset Management PLC: Nigel Legge 020 7412 1700J P Morgan Cazenove: Richard Locke 020 7155 4706ENDLIONTRUST ASSET MANAGEMENT PLCRelated Shares:
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