The senior management team of Premier Miton has elected to take a reduction in salary for a period of six months in a bid to mitigate potential negative effects from the coronavirus crisis.
In Premier Miton’s half year results, published today (May 22), Piers Harrison, the fund house's chief financial officer, said the firm had reacted well to the coronavirus crisis but the financial performance for the year remained "difficult to determine" at this stage.
The firm had seen £389m of net outflows in the half-year period, which together with negative market movements had chipped away at its assets under management, dropping to £9.1bn as at March 31.
Investors primarily pulled cash from multi-asset funds, which accounted for £325m of the outflows, while its fixed income funds saw £180m of outflows.
The firm’s adjusted profit before tax increased 31 per cent year-on-year, from £9.3m to £12.2m, while its net revenue jumped from £24m to £33m.
Meanwhile the post-merger integration of the two firms formerly known as Miton Group and Premier Asset Management is “ahead of target” despite the coronavirus crisis having a stark impact on business, its top boss has said.
Chief executive Mike O’Shea said he was pleased the firm was “ahead of target with the integration of the two highly regarded companies” despite the fact it had been a “period of considerable change and challenge”.
The merger, announced at the beginning of September last year and completed in November, is expected to achieve £7m of cost cuts per year from three years after completion and £10m of one-off cost savings.
Mr O’Shea said so far the companies had amalgamated central and head offices, which represented about 20 per cent of total possible synergies.
Duplicated staff roles had also been removed and in April the firms’ respective fund management arms moved to a single entity.
Merging IT systems — which would account for about 45 per cent of cost-cutting measures — was on track to complete by the end of the year.
Mr O’Shea said: “Any merger will naturally create change which can be unsettling. However, I have been impressed with the enthusiasm, skill and good humour of the entire Premier Miton team in ensuring that our progress to date has been achieved with the minimum of disruption to our clients.”
Mr O’Shea added: “Our people have shown substantial resilience and dedication during the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
"As we look forward, the business is well placed to take advantage of the broad range of investment capabilities, collegiate investment culture and the scalable operating platform we now have for the benefit of our clients and stakeholders."
imogen.tew@ft.com
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