IOOF's mergers and acquisitions deliver

The expansion of IOOF, via its merger with Australian Wealth Management (AWM) and its acquisition of Skandia, has delivered strong dividends with the company reporting a 37 per cent increase in net profit after tax pre-amortisation for the six months to the end of December of $47.1 million.

IOOF managing director Chris Kelaher was moved to describe the result as "impressive" and said that while it had been assisted by the global market recovery, management decisions identifying further cost savings and driving organic sales growth in its flagship platforms had also played a major role.

The company reported that as of December 31 IOOF had funds under management, administration or advice and supervision of $100.8 billion, which represented a $4.2 billion increase in six months.

It said that the business synergies flowing from its merger with AWM had reached $17 million as of December 31 and remained firmly on track to achieve the targeted $20 million in cost savings by June 30, 2010.

IOOF said that in addition to the synergies associated with the IOOF/AWM merger, the company had saved more than $18 million relating to the acquisition of Australia Skandia in March 2009.

Kelaher said the primary focus of the group in the past six months had been business simplification and the transition to its IOOF Global One Platform - something which represented one the industry's largest platform rationalisations in recent times.