Fund’s net outflows slows to R4.2bn

South Africans continued to cash in their pensions faster than Coronation grew their money in its 2018 financial year, the pension fund manager's results showed on Tuesday.

Coronation described R22.6bn net outflows from its South African institutional portfolios as “significantly better than expected”.

Institutional outflows slowed to about half the prior year’s R43.7bn. The group’s net outflows slowed to R4.2bn in its 2018 financial year from R6.9bn in the prior year.

People withdrawing their savings from Coronation translated into its assets under management shrinking by 4.4% over the year, to R587bn from R614bn.

The group's revenue declined by 2% to R3.8bn and its net profit by 3% to R1.47bn.

“Due to the cyclical nature of the business, our revenue stream is highly geared to the returns of the markets and the level of performance that we generate on behalf of our clients. Over the past 12 months, these cyclical pressures have been particularly acute,” chief executive Anton Pillay said.

Coronation cut its dividend for the second half of its 2018 financial year by 9.2% to R1.97, tracking declines in both its top and bottom lines.

Along with its R2.23 interim dividend, the total dividend for Coronation’s year to endSeptember came to R4.20, a 4% decline from the prior year’s R4.37.