Leading global fund manager Henderson Group plc (ASX: HGG) has reported a 13% growth rate in underlying earnings per share from 13 pence (the company reports in Great British Pounds) to 14.7 pence for the full year ending December 2014.
The overall results were sound and helped along by strong investment performance thanks to many of its funds producing top quartile performance over the past three years.
Here are some of the highlights:
- Management fees jumped 22% to £403.5 million
- Total revenue increased 13% to £534 million
- Underlying profit before tax from continuing operations gained 13% to £187.8 million
- The total dividend expanded by 13% to 9 pence per share
- Assets under management of £81.2 billion
So could Henderson be a better bet than Perpetual Limited (ASX: PPT) and IOOF Holdings Limited (ASX: IFL)?
As you can read here and here, Perpetual and IOOF respectively have both just reported impressive results. Looking forward however, these two companies both face the prospect of being heavily reliant on what could be described as an over serviced and competitive Australian domestic marketplace.
In contrast, Henderson is a globally-focussed investment manager with operations diversified not just by region but also by investment strategy and asset class.
According to data provided by Morningstar, Henderson is trading on a forward price-to-earnings (PE) ratio 18.1x. Interestingly, Perpetual is also on a forward PE multiple of 18.1x, while IOOF is trading on a forecast PE of 16x. While investors need to consider the effects of the different tax structure of Henderson, its slight premium to the S&P/ASX 300 (Index: ^AXKO) (ASX: XKO) and its relative valuation compared with its peers could well be justified by the greater growth opportunities available to it.
