Perpetual's cost reductions pay dividends
Perpetual has upgraded its profit forecast for the half year beyond that indicated at its annual general meeting in November last year.
The company notified the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) today it expected underlying profit after tax to be $34.7 million, which was above the range of $26 million to $31 million indicated at the AGM.
The upgrading in the forecast follows on from Perpetual's announcement last week of a parting of the ways with its former chief executive, Chris Ryan, and his replacement with Geoff Lloyd.
The company said the $2.8 million improvement reflected the benefits of recent initiatives to reduce expenses, as well as a reduction in equity-based remuneration expense in relation to various performance-based hurdles.
The Perpetual announcement said the company's first-half 2012 net profit after tax was expected to be $22.9 million, with the decline relative to previous periods being due to a $10.2 million after-tax expense relating to the closure of the group's global equities manufacturing capability in Dublin, and the restructuring of its retail distribution and marketing functions.
It said the result had also been impacted by a $2.2 million after-tax loss in relation to market-linked investments, and the foreshadowed lower rate of recovery of prior-period losses from the Exact Market Cash Fund.
Recommended for you
ASIC has launched court proceedings against the responsible entity of three managed investment schemes with around 600 retail investors.
There is a gap in the market for Australian advisers to help individuals with succession planning as the country has been noted by Capital Group for being overly “hands off” around inheritances.
ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of an advice firm associated with Shield and First Guardian collapses, and permanently banned its responsible manager.
Having peaked at more than 40 per cent growth since the first M&A bid, Insignia Financial shares have returned to earth six months later as the company awaits a final decision from CC Capital.
