The first quarter market weakness took its toll on the performance of global fund manager Janus Henderson Group (JHG), which late Wednesday evening reported a sharp slide in earnings that translated into a very sharp selloff on Thursday.
JHG reported first quarter operating income of $US124.6 million, down 21% from the fourth quarter of 2021 and a nasty 35.3% fall from the first quarter of 2021.
Total revenue for the quarter was $US620 million which was also lower.
The locally-listed securities fell 13% to $37.760 after being down more than 15% in early trading. That was after the shares dropped more than 8% in New York on Wednesday in the wake of the weak results.
Assets under management (AUM) also slid – which is usually problematic for fund managers, as the likes of Pendal can attest to as well as the AMP (which can blame other factors as well).
“In an ongoing challenging market environment which is impacting our outlook and flows, our first quarter results reflect solid long-term investment performance, robust financials, although down on the prior quarter, and continued capital return to shareholders,” interim CEO Roger Thompson said in a statement with the results.
Janus Henderson said AUM fell from around $US432 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021 (which was down $US16.2 billion over last year) to around $US361 billion in the first quarter of 2022, due to the vey weak market conditions, net outflows, and the sale of one of its subsidiaries in the quarter.
Excluding the sale, AUM still fell by 8% from the fourth quarter.
In the quarter, the company said it returned $US107 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. It increased its dividend by 3% to a quarterly dividend of 39 US cents a share.
It has added another $US200 million in buybacks up to March, 2023.
