Ninety One full-year AuM fall, dividend cut

Ninety One posted a drop in full-year assets under management on Wednesday and cut its dividend as it said business conditions remained "challenging".

In the year to the end of March 2024, assets under management fell 3% to £126bn, while pre-tax profit ticked up 2% to £216.8m.

Net outflows improved slightly during the year, to £9.4bn from £10.6bn in 2023. The asset manager said outflows in the second half were marginally higher than the first half.

For the full year, net outflows were driven by reduced inflows relative to the prior year, as clients elected to delay allocations to risk assets.

The primary driver of net outflows was equities, particularly from global strategies, followed by European and UK equities. The company said that notwithstanding this, there were net inflows into some of its focus areas such as sustainable and international equities.

Fixed income net outflows were driven largely by emerging market sovereign strategies, which countered net inflows into inflation-linked, liquidity and income strategies. Multi-asset net outflows were broadly spread, including from South African and income strategies, it said.

The dividend per share was cut to 12.3p from 13.2p a year earlier.

Founder and chief executive Hendrik du Toit said: "Ninety One, and many other public-markets-centric active investment managers, faced headwinds over the reporting period. Despite these conditions, we delivered robust financial results.

"Looking ahead, we remain confident of the underlying strength of our business and the long-term relevance and quality of our proposition to clients.

"The combination of focus on carefully chosen investment capabilities, distribution reach into large markets and our relentless quest to improve execution will realise the growth potential of Ninety One. Despite short-term challenges, our attention is firmly fixed on the compelling long-term opportunity."

At 0930 BST, the shares were down 6.3% at 160p.