Equity Trustees flags lower profit outlook
Equity Trustees has warned its profit will be between 25 to 30 per cent lower this financial year.
The financial services company reported a net profit after tax of $10.56 million last financial year.
Already this year Equity Trustees has found conditions tougher, reporting a 19.1 per cent drop in after-tax profit for the six months ending December 31.
“The forecast deterioration in the full-year result reflects the severe decline in asset market values at the end of the 2008 calendar year and the early months of 2009,” Equity Trustees chairman Tony Killen warned.
“This guidance (to the ASX) for the full year is dependent upon there being no further material adverse movement in asset market values before the end of the financial year.”
The Melbourne-based financial services company relies on fees levied against the value of assets held by clients.
The current crisis has depressed the value of these assets, which has resulted in a drop in income for the company.
“Despite these severely depressed market conditions, our staff continues to work extremely hard to position our business for the future,” he said.
“We have aggressively pursued new revenue opportunities across all of our business units and we have taken a very strict approach to the control of discretionary expenditure.”
Killen said the company was positioned to respond quickly when market conditions improved.
“The underlying fundamentals of Equity Trustees’ business remain,” he said.
“The company has a strong balance sheet, is debt-free and continues to produce strong operating cash flows.”
Recommended for you
In this episode of Relative Return, host Laura Dew speaks with Andrew Mitchell, director and senior portfolio manager at Ophir Asset Management, about why he loves working in fund management and the lessons he’s learnt in a decade of running a firm.
In this episode of Relative Return, host Laura Dew speaks with Blackwattle Investment Partners managing director and chief investment officer, Michael Skinner, about setting up an asset manager and what he looks for in an investment team.
In this special episode of Relative Return, Momentum Media’s Phil Tarrant and Jordan Coleman discuss the publishing house’s expansion into greater coverage of the wealth management space.
In this episode of Relative Return, host Maja Garaca Djurdjevic speaks with Riley James, founder and chief executive of fintech SuperAPI, about creating a superannuation ecosystem and potential changes from the Quality of Advice Review.