Skandia Poland sold to Vienna
cycle, this revenues.
“There will be years where the performance fees earned do not significantly contribute to revenue. The years ahead will undoubtedly present a more difficult investment environment,” the company said.
Coronation attracted net inflows of R54 billion, including direct flows into international products of R17bn, in the year to September. The company had 45 percent more assets under management than a year earlier at R492bn.
The investment performance and the increased asset base resulted in an 84 percent increase in the group’s revenue to R3.6bn for the year. Profit from fund management rose by 102 percent to R2bn. The company’s headline earnings a share doubled to R4.339 from R2.173 last year, and diluted headline earnings per share jumped 110 percent to R4.16.
Coronation’s retail business attracted R33bn of the flows into the collective investment schemes industry, increasing Coronation’s market share in long-term retail assets to 13.6 percent from 11.2 percent in September last year.
Coronations’ five domestic and international flagship unit trust funds ranked in the first quartile of their categories.
The company declared a final dividend of R2.53 a share, taking the full-year gross dividend to R4.16. The stock fell 0.1 percent to R82.50 yesterday. Old Mutual had reached an agreement with Austrian longterm insurer Vienna Insurance Group to sell its Skandia Poland business, the AngloSouth African insurer said yesterday. Skandia Poland, which has 414 million (R5.7 billion) in funds under management, is being disposed of as part of Old Mutual’s strategy to simplify its wealth operations in Europe and to focus on core growth markets. Old Mutual did not disclose the value of the Skandia Poland sale. The transaction is still subject to regulatory approvals and the insurer expected it would take approximately six months to fulfil these. – Londiwe Buthelezi
PETRA DIAMONDS London-listed Petra Diamonds’ output rose 25 percent in its financial first quarter and it maintained its full-year target of about 3 million carats, as its key Finsch mine was unaffected by labour strikes, the South Africa-focused group said yesterday. Petra said it produced 816 735 carats in the quarter to September, up from 654 690 carats a year earlier, helped by the Finsch mine in the Northern Cape. Firstquarter revenue rose 27 percent to $65.1 million (R673.6m). The company said the labour situation at its local operations had remained stable since the end of the industrial action which began in August. Petra, which has seven producing mines in South Africa and one in Tanzania, said it maintained its overall outlook for average prices for its financial year to June next year. The company said diamond prices were weak after the northern summer, but it expected a firmer market to the end of the calendar year and the financial year. Petra gets most of its production from five mines that it bought from De Beers. The shares were down 2.6 percent by 1.40pm in London. – Reuters