Henderson defies market volatility
Big UK-based financial services group Henderson Group has posted a strong full-year result despite the recent market volatility.
The company, which was once part of the AMP Group, reported a 116 per cent increase in profit after tax to £132.2 million, largely as a result of utilising previously unrecognised deferred tax assets.
Commenting on the result, Henderson Group chief executive Roger Yates said the profit growth reflected strong improvements in the company’s fee margins and in its cost to income ratio.
He said that, in turn, these had helped generate a significant return on equity and allowed Henderson to pay a substantially higher dividend.
The group’s Henderson Global Investors unit posted a 35 per cent increase in profit before tax on the back of higher fee incomes and slower growth in costs.
It said management fee income had increased 17 per cent to £258 million.
The company said that its goal in 2008 was to meet or beat Henderson Global Investors’ 2007 operating profit before tax and this might be achieved through a combination of management fee growth and continued cost management, assuming markets recovered, or through cost reduction if markets remained subdued.
It said it had already taken some measured action with restructuring, which had resulted in a reduced head-count likely to generate savings of £20 million.
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