Ashmore Group, an emerging markets specialist, saw its assets under management grow 22% in the 12 months to the end of June to $77.4 billion (€58.6 billion).
The London-listed company also reports net revenue of £355.5 million (€421.8 million) – an increase of 7% – over the period.
A portion of this revenue – net management fees – increased by 4% and attracted caution from an analyst.
Jonathan Goslin, analyst at Edison Investment Research, says: “While we favour Ashmore’s ability to grow AUM through net new money flows and strong investment performance, we remain wary of the continued decline in revenue margins and the drag this will have on future revenue growth.”
The 4% increase in net management fee revenues is due to continued declines in management fees, says Goslin.
The decline in management fees was driven by a number of new larger clients at lower margins and an increase in competition for these mandates, Goslin adds.
However, analysts at Societe Generale say that while management fee margins fell slight to 68 bps (from 74 bps least year), the fall was predominantly due to “[funds under management] mix changes” rather than fee pressure. This limited revenue leakage from better fund flows.
Continued investment outperformance across the majority of funds helped drive a 31% increase in performance fees and a 7% increase in EBITDA.
Ashmore, which was founded in 1992 and listed in 2006, produced a profit before tax of £257.6 million – up 6% on the previous 12 months.
©2013 funds europe
