Profits halve at Magellan, new chair appointed
Net profit after tax (NPAT) at Magellan has declined by 52 per cent as it releases its full-year results for FY2022–2023, its first in a five-year transformation strategy.
In its full-year results released to the ASX, the asset manager said NPAT was $182,655 down from $383,011 at the end of June 2022.
Total revenue was $431 million down from $553 million a year ago.
Funds under management were down 48 per cent from $61.2 million a year ago to $39.6 million. Magellan said this consisted of $18.3 million in retail and $21.2 million in institutional.
The firm said its focus is three-fold in delivering stability and improving fund management performance, near-term growth opportunities, and adjacent investing offerings and future growth opportunities from diversifying funds and expanding the depth and breadth of the team.
It also announced several leadership changes with Andrew Formica taking over as a non-executive chair from Hamish McLennan. Formica, who is a former co-CEO of Janus Henderson Group, joined the asset manager last month as a non-executive director.
It also appointed Deborah Page, a former chair of Pendal Group, as a non-executive director who will join the Magellan Financial Group board in October.
McLennan will move to a deputy chair role, and non-executive director Robert Fraser will retire but remain chair of the Magellan Asset Management board.
On the investment side, a move to appoint head of infrastructure Gerald Stack as deputy chief investment officer and David George as chief investment officer was reversed, with Stack reverting to the role as head of investments.
“These appointments were made to facilitate an objective and forensic review of the performance of Magellan’s global equities strategies and assess and implement changes that were in the Group’s control to assist in improving performance,” it said.
“Following these changes, we have been pleased to see improvements in collaboration and information flow, analyst engagement and improved processes. Investment performance in Magellan’s global equity strategy has also seen early signs of improvement, generating $11 million in performance fees in the 12 months to 30 June 2023.
“As a result of structural improvements in the investment team, we announce we will revert our investment team leadership to its former ‘business as usual’ structure with David as CEO and managing director and Gerald as head of investments.”
The board declared a final dividend of 35.6 cents per share and a performance fee dividend of 4.2 cents per share, taking the total ordinary dividend for the 2023 financial year to 86.7 cents per share. It also announced a special dividend of 30 cents per share.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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