TheAMPgroup has announced that it is expecting to face greater than anticipated losses in its investment income as a result of the continuing downturn in global equity markets.
In an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchangetoday, AMP said its investment income in the first half of 2002 would be negative, and worse than the result recorded by the group for first half of 2001.
AMP announced at its annual general meeting (AGM) in May that it had recorded a $26 million loss on investment income in 2001, a sever slump from the $617 million investment profit it achieved in 2000.
At the time, AMP chief executive Paul Batchelor said the result reflected the poor performance of global share markets throughout 2001.
But Batchelor told the AGM that even if investment markets remained at their May levels, the group’s investment income in the first half of 2002 would be stronger than the first half of 2001.
In its announcement today, AMP said the revised expectation was the result of substantial falls in international investment markets over the last month.
The UK market, were AMP has significant exposure, has fallen by 11.5 per cent since the AGM in May.
AMP will report its full half-year results on August 22.
