Perpetual Limited has delivered what it is describing as a solid half-year result with net profit after tax up two per cent to $66 million on the back of all divisions being in positive territory.
The board will deliver a fully-franked interim dividend of 130 cents per share.
Commenting on the result, Perpetual chief executive and managing director, Geoff Lloyd said the company’s strength and diversity had allowed it to deliver the solid result.
“We continue to lead in our core businesses of Australian equities asset management, professional financial advice to high net worth clients, as well as debt markets and fund services,” he said.
“Based on these strong franchises we are making good progress in our strategic extensions.”
Perpetual Investments reported a three per cent increase in profit before tax to $58.8 million, while Perpetual Private reported a nine per cent increase to $18.7 million which the company said was driven by higher markets, investment performance, net inflows and growth in new high net worth clients.
“Our Perpetual Private strategy remains on track with growth in high net worth clients,” Lloyd said.
“Investment management for private clients and not-for-profits continues to perform well with net inflows of $200 million and our managed accounts service passing through $2 billion of funds under management during the half.”
Lloyd said the firm’s accountancy business, Fordham, continued to grow and was a leading referral source of clients also seeking comprehensive financial advice.
