After a pretty dismal January, it might come as some relief to investors to HEAR that the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) recorded a positive gain for the month of February. The ASX 200 managed to eke out a 1.1% rise over the month that was. But it's not too often you'll hear this these days – the AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP) share price did far, far better.
Yes, AMP shares had a February to remember. The financial services company started the month at 88 cents a share, but ended it yesterday at 95 cents a share. That's a rise of 7.95% for the month, and a multi-fold beat on the broader performance of the ASX 200 Index.
So what was behind AMP's successes last month?
Image source: Getty Images
AMP share price notches up some wins
Well, there were a few developments for the company which may have fed into these gains.
The first was AMP's full-year earnings that the company delivered on 10 February. As we covered at the time, AMP reported underlying net profits after tax (NPAT) of $356 million. That was up 53% from the $233 million that was recorded the previous year. However, the company reported a statutory NPAT loss of $252 million, with no dividend announced for investors. Even so, the AMP share price reacted very positively at the time.
But we also got some developments regarding AMP's planned demerger of its Capital Private Markets business. The company announced that the demerger should be completed "in the first half of 2022". We even heard what this new business will be called – Collimate Capital.
A few days later, reports emerged that 'Collimate' had a potential suitor in the wings. That would be the Singapore-based real estate company CapitaLand.
So all of these developments seem to have boosted investor sentiment towards AMP shares, and likely contributed to the company's impressive performance over February.
But longer term, the picture is still leaving a lot to be desired. AMP shares are still trading very close to their 52-week low of 88 cents a share as it stands today. At the current AMP share price, of 96 cents a share, AMP remains down almost 35% over the past year. As well as down more than 81% over the past 5.
