South Africa-based asset manager Ninety One, formerly known as Investec Asset Management released its half year results to 30 September today. The firm described the results as being a ‘solid performance despite challenging operating conditions’.

While assets under management (AuM) increased by 15 percent during the six month reporting period, the firm’s average AuM declined by 3 percent during the same time period down to £114.2 billion. It also saw outflows of £0.3 billion during the first half.

However, in a mixed bag of results, pre-tax profits improved by 3 percent to £94.8 billion on a year-on-year basis. The firm also rewarded shareholders with an interim dividend of 5.9p per share which should please income investors in a year when a large number of usually high dividend payers have restricted or stopped distributions altogether.

Hendrik du Toit, founder and CEO, said in a release to the market: "In the face of challenging operating conditions, the people of Ninety One remained focused on what really matters: serving and supporting our clients in these unprecedented times. We are mindful of the fact that the communities we serve have suffered from the health and economic consequences of the pandemic.

These results evidence the resilience of our diversified, capital-light, organic business model. Our sustained investment in technology over many years and the positive mindset of our people supported the shift to virtual client engagement and remote working and then a partial return to the office over the reporting period. Although aggregate investment performance has improved, flows were impacted by a few large mandate losses relating to past performance. The initial "risk-off" approach from clients in the advisor channel and lower than usual levels of pipeline visibility in parts of the institutional market affected new business momentum.

We believe in the considerable long-term opportunity for Ninety One to grow organically. Our strategy is clear and our focus remains on execution."