S.African wealth manager Investecs annual profit nearly doubles

　　div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpJOHANNESBURG Reuters – South African lender and asset manager Investecs full year profit soared by almost 91 thanks to strong loan growth, client acquisitions and increasing funds under management, it said on Thursday. p

　　pThe company, which services higherincome clients, reported an adjusted earnings per share – profits made in the course of ordinary operations – of 55.1 pence for the year ended March 31, a tad higher than its estimate.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

　　pIt announced a final dividend of 14 pence per share, taking its full year dividend to 25 pence per share.p

　　pInvestec shares, however, were down over 3 at 1135 GMT.p

　　pThe niche lender, with a listing in the UK as well, has been amongst the top performing banks in South Africa in terms of share price in the last two years. p

　　pThis has been driven mainly by a focus on acquiring and servicing quality clients, cutting costs and hiving off noncore businesses.p

　　pInvestec primarily operates in specialist banking, whereby it serves the banking needs of highvalue clients, and wealth management in South Africa and the UK. This translates into two main sources of revenue for the company – funds under management and loans.p

　　pFor the year ended March 31, it posted a 9.2 increase in funds under management to 63.8 billion pounds and a 13.2 increase in core loans to 29.9 billion pounds.p

　　pIts revenue grew 21.3 to 2 billion pounds.p

　　pChief Executive Fani Titi told Reuters in an interview that the RussiaUkraine crisis will be “transient” but it will have farreaching impacts on global consumption of everything from fuel to food, making inflation a phenomenon for at least a “few years.”p

　　p“The environment and the outlook is cloudy but we are confident in the quality of our clients… and the fundamental strength of our business,” he said.p

　　p1 0.8066 poundsp

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　　pp Reporting by Promit Mukherjee editing by Olivia KumwendaMtambo, Jason Neely and Susan Fentonp

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