GAM's Pre-Tax Profits, AuM Surge

Robbie Lawther

2 March 2018

Zurich-based financial services firm GAM Holding has reported a 44 per cent increase in profit before tax, which stood at SFr172.5 million .

The firm said this was due to a rise in net fee and commission income, which were up seven per cent from 2016 at SFr503.6 million. Performance fees swelled from SFr3 million in 2016 to SFr44.1 million in 2017.

Net profit came in at SFr123.2 million, however, eight per cent lower than 2016 due to a large one-time tax credit.

The firm’s group assets under management increased 31 per cent increase since December 2016, and stood at SFr158.7 billion.

Proposed dividend of SFr0.65 per share, unchanged from previous year

The firm’s structural cost savings in fixed personnel and general expenses were around SFr12 million, ahead of GAM’s SFr10 million target.

Private Labelling
GAM reported net inflows of SFr15.7 billion in its private labelling segment.

Assets under management increased from SFr21.8 billion to SFr74.3 billion at 31 December 2017, driven by net inflows, a net positive impact from market and foreign exchange movements.

Board Changes
All current members of the board of directors will stand for re-election at the upcoming AGM.

The board of directors has appointed Benjamin Meuli as its vice chairman.

"Over the past three years, we have undertaken a top-to-bottom revamp of our business to create an investment management firm designed to gain market share in the new industry environment,” said group chief executive Alexander Friedman. “We have refined our product range to ensure we have truly differentiated and scalable investment strategies, suited for the changing market conditions, and we have taken a myriad of steps to bolster our investment performance. It is gratifying to see that our well positioned, diversified, and performing products are now enabling the Group's accelerating growth. We are pleased with the financial results achieved in 2017, but recognise there is still a lot to do to deliver on the full potential of GAM."

GAM employs over 900 people in 13 countries with investment centres in London, Cambridge, Zurich, Hong Kong, New York, Milan and Lugano.