In its half-year results released to the ASX on Monday, Fiducian reported a 10 per cent increase in revenue in the six months ending on 31 December to $39 billion.
Notably, funds under management, administration, and advice (FUMAA) experienced a 9 per cent growth, reaching $12.9 billion, while expenses were prudently managed, resulting in a 6.6 per cent increase, and both underlying net profit after tax (UNPAT) and statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) showed substantial gains of 17 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.
Funds under management added 18 per cent to $4.8 billion, while funds under advice decreased slightly from $4.8 billion as of December 2022 to $4.7 billion as of December 2023, on the back of a “long list” of non-fee-paying clients.
Net inflows reached $121 million in the six months to 31 December from aligned financial advisers.
The firm’s platform administration business, offering wrap administration for superannuation and investment services, added 13 per cent to $3.4 billion.
Fiducian, which runs an in-house manage-the-manager system of investment, said it provides “substantial diversification benefits to investors by providing them access to a range of specially selected asset managers through a single transaction”.
Commenting on the firm’s results amid a volatile environment, executive chairman Inderjit Singh, said: “Despite media forecasts of volatility and weakness to come, financial markets remained resilient amid expectations of interest rate reductions to come in 2024. The sharp declines seen particularly in risk assets (shares) and fixed-income securities were partially recovered.
“Our investment strategy to move close to benchmark by marginally reducing growth asset exposure and increasing fixed interest exposure has proven successful.”
Looking ahead, Mr Singh said this year could still bring positive results for the firm’s clients, assuming that interest rates begin to decline as forecast.
Additionally, he confirmed that Fiducian would pay an interim fully franked dividend of 18.20 cents per share.
“The board is confident that the future of the business is positive and likely to continue to strengthen through organic growth and acquisition of client bases.”
Fiducian boasts 80 aligned advisers and associates – 40 salaried and 40 franchisees – and 45 offices across Australia.
