Australian Ethical reaches record FUM
Strong net flows, improved market conditions and cost control measures have led to substantial gains for Australian Ethical Investment over the 2012/13 financial year.
The company has today announced a 164 per cent increase in net profit after tax to $1.063 million and a 95 per cent increase to underlying profit after tax to $1.675 million.
A 10.7 per cent increase in revenues to $16.378 million and a 0.6 per cent reduction in operating expenses have contributed to the company's highest levels of funds under management at $708 million.
Australian Ethical managing director Phillip Vernon said the results stemmed from the improvements the business had undergone over the past couple of years.
"Improvements to our products, greater brand awareness and smarter sales and marketing have led to a doubling of our monthly new clients and a steady improvement in our flows," he said.
Vernon said the results were buoyed by investors' growing demand for ethically-minded investments and default superannuation arrangements with ethically minded employers. Its super fund members have increased to 14,868.
Although a focus on digital communications meant the vast majority of new clients joined online, its focus on advisers was also gaining traction, Vernon said.
"Our flagship fund — the Smaller Companies Trust — continues to outperform its benchmark by a considerable margin over the long term, returning 22.4 per cent over one year and 9.4 per cent over 10," he said.
"This fund is now more competitively priced for the wholesale market and has particular appeal to the SMSF (self-managed super fund) investor."
Recommended for you
Passive ETFs are seeing stronger flows than their active counterparts despite the proliferation of active launches this year, according to Morningstar.
Former CEO of Global X ETFs Australia, Evan Metcalf, has taken up a new position at a specialist ETF provider.
BlackRock has expanded its iShares fixed-income ETF range, with a global bond fund designed as a ‘building block’ for Australian advisers.
A failure to maintain operations and governance models could prove problematic for private managers in the future as their funds grow in popularity with a retail and wholesale audience.
