 saw shares rise over 7 percent on Thursday, after reporting an increase in profit.){kind=link}
Financial services group Ashmore (LON:ASHM) saw shares rise over 7 percent on Thursday, after reporting an increase in profit and an upbeat forecast looking forward.
Higher management and performance fees, as well as favourable currency gains, drove profit up by 94 percent to £121.5 million. The group’s net revenue increased by 24 percent to £144.1 million, driven largely by management fees of £114.9 million and performance fees of £21.6 million.
Assets under management or AuM fell slightly to $52.2 billion during the six months from $52.6 billion, but increased by 5 percent from $49.4 billion over the course of the calendar year.
Profits were boosted by a more positive investor sentiment towards emerging markets, with active investment processes delivering strong investment performance across fund range. Commenting on the Group’s results, Mark Coombs, Chief Executive Officer, Ashmore Group said:
“Emerging markets produced very strong investment returns in 2016 and delivered a 5 percent increase in Ashmore’s AuM over the calendar year. Relative investment performance is strong with more than 90 percent of assets outperforming benchmarks over one year, and more than 80 percent over three and five years. This backdrop, together with favourable currency movements, delivered a 94 percent increase in Ashmore’s profit before tax.
“While the US election outcome interrupted the improvement in sentiment towards Emerging Markets, the effect has been short-lived with asset prices strengthening into 2017. The combination of attractive absolute and relative returns, accelerating GDP growth, and low allocations all support the expectation of further strong performance in 2017 and a return to the improving flow trend seen for most of 2016.”
Shares in Ashmore Group were up 6.78 percent at 340.64 (1041GMT).