What: The latest announcement from diversified financial services group IOOF Holdings Limited (ASX: IFL) has failed to spur investor enthusiasm despite the release of a reasonable set of numbers regarding its funds under management, administration, advice and supervision (FUMAS) for the quarter ending September 30 2015.
So What: The highlight of the first quarter results was a positive net fund flow of $1.2 billion in funds under management, administration and advice (FUMA). However this impressive inflow was offset by an overall $4.3 billion reduction in FUMAS to $148.8 billion.
Here are the details:
- Net positive flows of $509 million into IOOF's Advice platform including strong flows from Shadforth, Lonsdale and Ord Minnett
- Net positive flows of $283 million into IOOF's Flagship Platforms and positive flows of $115 million to platforms overall
- Investment Management inflows of $617 million
- Market movements, which included the difficult and volatile month of August when the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) plunged from 5,700 points to 5,200 points, were largely responsible for contributing to the decline in overall FUMAS.
Now What: Along with peers such as AMP Limited (ASX: AMP) and Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG), the outlook for financial service providers like IOOF remains a positive thematic.
For this reason, IOOF's recent share price weakness which sees the stock trading near $9 a share (or roughly flat over the past 12 months) – and is arguably primarily due to media speculation regarding certain aspects of the group's compliance and operations – could be viewed as a long-term buying opportunity.
