The first quarter results released by AMP Limited ahead of its annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday, revealed a $387 million turnaround on the first quarter of 2012, partly attributable to the performance of the company’s wealth management and platform businesses.
“The growth in AFS (AMP Financial Services) cash flows in the quarter was the result of a strong performance by its retail business on AMP platforms, with $391 million net cash flows compared to outflows of $45 million in quarter one of 2012, and strong flows into AMP SMSF, which was established in June 2012,” said an AMP statement.
“Total Australian wealth management assets under management (AUM) at 31 March 2013 were $89.8 billion, up 4.8 per cent on quarter four of 2012. AMP Capital AUM was $130.7 billion, up 1.6 per cent on the previous quarter,” it continued.
Speaking to InvestorDaily after the AGM, Mr Dunn said these elements of the business have particularly benefited from the merger with AXA in March 2011.
“There’s no doubt that as markets start to recover and returns through superannuation and other vehicles start to flow down and people look to invest more, this is assisting our wealth management and advice business, but the results are also largely a function of the benefits of the merger,” he said.
Mr Dunn said advisers from the AMP Financial Planning and Hillross dealer channels are taking more interest in former AXA platforms, with a third of net flows to the North platform coming from authorised representatives of these licensees.
AXA’s platform capabilities and offering, as well as its “substantial adviser footprint” were two of the key factors in the decision to pursue a merger, and these are now paying off for AMP shareholders, Mr Dunn said.
“If you look at the North platform, we had AUM of $1.7 billion at the time of the merger and we’ve just gone through $6 billion AUM at the end of the first quarter of 2013,” he said.
“We’ve continued to build on the investment that AXA’s management made on that platform and it was recently recognised independently as the leading platform in the market.
“This is an example of the merger adding to the growth in that platform and our platform business.”
The comments followed a speech made by Mr Dunn to AMP shareholders at the AGM yesterday at the Sydney Town Hall, in which he also highlighted the benefits of the merger.
“Our merger with AXA in 2011 was driven by our strong conviction that we needed increased scale and investment capacity to capitalise on the opportunities we could see developing,” he said.
“Our 2012 results show some of the benefits of this strategy starting to emerge, despite share markets and investor sentiment remaining subdued for much of last year.
“We delivered an underlying profit of $955 million, driven by strong profit growth in our superannuation, advice and investment businesses, and very good cost control.”
