Challenger confident despite profit fall
FUNDS management groupChallenger Internationalhas reported a drop in net profit, posting only $35.8 million for the half year to December 2002, down from $109 million in the previous corresponding period.
Challenger says the drop was due to a number of one-off items, including a $14.6 million write down of the group’s UK operations and the sale of the group’s broking business to Bell Potter Securities as part of a bid to cut costs.
While the group’s overall figures stayed in the black, the funds management division reported a rise in pre-tax earnings to $24.1 million from $6.7 million.
According to Challenger managing director Bill Ireland, reaping the “benefits of scale in our funds management business” resulted in the rise in pre-tax earnings in that division.
“We’re averaging $50 million to $60 million in net funds growth a week,” Ireland says.
During the six months to December 31, Challenger attracted fund inflows of more than $700 million across its flagship products, including the Howard Mortgage Trust, Synergy master trust platform and Challenger High Yield Fund.
As a result of the increased inflows, research houseAssirthas labelled Challenger the fifth largest recipient of retail investment monies in its December 2002 quarterly reports, posting $11.9 billion at the end of December, up from $9 billion at the end of June.
Recommended for you
In this episode of Relative Return, host Laura Dew speaks with Russel Pillemer, chief executive of Pengana Capital Group, to discuss the opportunities in global private credit in this market environment.
In this episode of Relative Return, host Laura Dew speaks with Steve Johnson, founder and CIO at Forager Funds Management, about the impact of human psychology on investing and whether fund managers can ever beat algorithms.
In this episode of Relative Return, host Laura Dew speaks with Daniel Bower, chief product officer at FinClear, and Bill Keogh, chief executive of Transact1 (a FinClear subsidiary) to discuss cash as an asset class.
In this episode of Relative Return, host Maja Garaca Djurdjevic is joined by shadow treasurer Angus Taylor to discuss the current state of the financial advice sector, the economy, the housing affordability crisis and more.