The announcement of a return to dividends has sent shares in Centrepoint Alliance surging, up 37%, with the stock having seen gains of 148% over one year.
According to data from FE Analytics, over one year to 3 February, 2021, shares in Centrepoint Alliance had risen 148%. During 2020, they rose 73% to make it the best-performing listed financial of 2020.
Last week, the firm announced it would resume paying dividends after returning to profit in the first half of the current financial year. Earnings for the first half of the financial year were $2.1 million compared to a loss of $400,000 in the prior first half of the previous year.
As a result, it proposed a fully-franked dividend of four cents per share comprised of a three cent special dividend and a one cent interim dividend.
The next best financial was Pinnacle Investment Management which returned 76% over the same period. In its half-year results to 31 December, 2020, the firm said it had seen a 120% growth in net profit after tax to $30.3 million. Net inflows for the first half were $5.5 billion.
The firms were rare among listed financials in returning positive returns with the next best performer being Macquarie Group which lost 2.14%. The ASX 200 returned 0.5% over the same period.
Perpetual lost 15.7%, Suncorp lost 16.2%, Clime Investment Management lost 17.7%, Challenger lost 18.5%, Magellan lost 24.9% and IOOF was the worst with losses of 50.6%. However, last week Nikko Asset Management said it still could see “stand out value” in IOOF.
