Magellan retail footprint sees growth


International investment management firm, Magellan Financial Group, announced an after-tax profit increase of 14 per cent to $198.4 million for the 12 months to 30 June, as its funds saw an increased footprint in Australia's retail market.
Announcing the result to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on 11 August, Magellan chief executive, Hamish Douglass, said the strong results reflected the scalability of the business model.
The firm now managed $12 billion in global equities and global listed infrastructure strategies on behalf of retail Australian investors, advisers, and brokers, up from $9.8 billion recorded in 30 June, 2015. The strategies also saw $2.3 billion in net retail inflows.
Global equities saw $2 billion of net retail inflows, while its total retail funds under management (FUM) stood at $10.9 billion. Infrastructure saw $365 million of net retail inflows, with total retail FUM of $1.15 billion.
Douglass said another part of the firm's retail strategy was to target investors who sought very little professional advice and were effectively do-it-yourself investors.
"If you look at what we did in March last year, we launched a whole new form of funds which was the ASX-quoted versions of the Magellan global equities fund, which is an open-ended quoted version of our global equity fund, listed on the ASX," he said.
"Since March last year, we have now, to the end of July this year, got $623 million in the global equities fund on the ASX and we now have 12,000 unit holders in 15 months, and the vast majority of those unit holders had never invested in a Magellan product before."
He noted that this space was very difficult to penetrate into, saying it would take a lot of time, and said the firm was "only scratching the tip of the iceberg at the moment".
The firm's average FUM was up 20 per cent year-on-year, from $203.3 million last year to $243.8 million this year to 30 June.
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