Henderson Group delivers 'solid' first half

Henderson Group, a FTSE 250 fund manager, pleased investors with a small but 'solid' profit following a volatile half year, prompting an increase in the interim dividend.

Underlying pre-tax profits dropped from £86.4m to £79.0m, with recurring profit before tax falling from £48.6m to £45.5m. Actual pre-tax profit was £45.5m compared to a loss of £3.1m the same half the previous year.

The increase was largely the result of reduced costs and consolidation during the period, which saw total expenses drop from £169.7m to £150.1m year-on-year.

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Assets under management dropped £700m to £63.6bn over the six month period, while total fee income declined from £256.1m to £229.1m year-on-year.

Net outflows were £2.1bn, as new clients proved lacking and some existing accounts were lost as clients edged away from riskier assets over concerns on econmic growth and the Eurozone.

Absolute return funds resulted in retail outflows of £141m during the half year, largely due to market volatility and reduced demand for European, Japanese and Asian strategies. Aum for absolute return funds was £1.12bn at the period end.

Chief Executive, Andrew Formica said: "In a volatile time for all markets, these financial results are solid. On the positive side, profits and margins have held up; and, crucially for the long term, two-thirds of our funds have matched or beaten their benchmarks over three years. Against these encouraging achievements, we have seen net outflows across our business.

"Looking ahead, we continue to invest in our fund manager and distribution talent, review the number and variety of funds, and control costs across the business: measures all designed to provide high quality service for our clients and to maintain our financial strength."

The dividend has been increased to 2.1p per share (2011 H1: 1.95p).

The share price rose 1.71% to 107.30p by 11:40.

NR