Perpetual improves profit
The restructuring which has occurred within Perpetual Limited has paid dividends, with the company reporting to the Australian Securities Exchange today a 19 per cent improvement in net profit after tax to $27.3 million for the six months to the end of December.
The directors announced a fully-franked interim dividend of 50 cents.
The company said the result included a $6 million after-tax restructuring cost and the foreshadowed $5.2 million non-cash after-tax foreign currency translation cost relating to the closure of its Dublin operations.
Commenting on the result, Perpetual chief executive Geoff Lloyd said it indicated the company's transformation program was well on track.
Discussing the broader performance of the business, the ASX said the personal advisory business, Perpetual Private, had recorded a 29 per cent increase in profit before tax of $4.4 million, with funds under advice up 10 per cent to $8.8 billion, reflecting rebounding investment markets and improved net flows.
Lloyd said that the company had continued the build phase of its platform outsourcing and was now set for the final roll-out in the fourth quarter of the year.
He said this would give Perpetual a scalable, purpose-built and leading administration platform to target the high net work segment.
Looking at the Perpetual Investments business, Lloyd pointed to a 16 per cent increase in profit before tax to $39.8 million and an 8 per cent increase in funds under management.
Lloyd remained cautious about the market outlook, saying that while market sentiment had improved it was yet to translate into significant net inflows for the industry.
"However our business model and strategy do not solely rely on a market recovery," he said.
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