Emerging markets specialist Ashmore has suffered a fall in its assets under management and profits as the emerging markets sell-off hit the firm hard in 2013.
The asset manager suffered net outflows from its funds of $2.8bn (£1.7bn) in the second half of 2013, but positive market performance from its funds meant its assets under management (AUM) only fell from $77.4bn to $75.3bn.
The firm’s pre-tax profits were down by 34 per cent to £79.5m compared to the same six month period a year previously.
The drop in profits was attributed to a huge drop in performance fees as its funds struggled to generate returns as emerging markets sold off. Adverse currency conditions meant many emerging market currencies sold off relative to the dollar and sterling, which also worked against the funds.
Ashmore only manages emerging markets funds, with a mix of bonds, equities and alternatives funds.
The broker Numis Securities said the firm’s earnings per share (EPS) figure of 8.8p was a “significant miss”, 15 per cent below its expectations and 22 per cent below the market consensus expectations.
The firm maintained its “hold” rating on the firm, however, saying that it was now trading at “fair value” following recent weakness in the share price.
However, the stockmarket reacted more negatively to the results and the stock is currently down by more than 7 per cent in early trading.
