Perpetual reports strong half in face of strategic review

Perpetual Limited has reinforced the value of its Corporate Trust and Wealth Management businesses at the same time as announcing its first half results revealing a 29% increase in net profit after tax to $34.5 million.

Perpetual chief executive, Rob Adams stressed the value of the businesses while acknowledging that the two businesses were the subject of a strategic review “to explore unlocking value to shareholders through separation”.

The strategic review was commenced last year in the face of M&A pressure.

Perpetual’s top line analysis was that underlying profit after tax was up 46% to $98.2 million “as a result of the Pendal acquisition and higher Wealth Management earnings”.

Adams said the first half financial performance reflected the increased scale of Perpetual’s Asset Management business and “the resilience of both our Corporate Trust and Wealth Management businesses”.

The company declared an interim dividend of 65 cents per share, 35% fully franked.

The company reported that the Corporate Trust business recorded a underlying profit before tax of $40.8 million, down 2% while the Wealth Management business delivered underlying profit before tax of $26 million up 18%.