Ninety One shares tumble despite dividend hike and high annual profit

(Alliance News) - Ninety One PLC and Ltd said on Wednesday that the acquisition of assets from Sanlam Ltd helped lift its assets under management, helping drive growth in annual profit and prompting an extension of its share buyback programme.

The London and Cape Town-based money manager recorded assets under management of GBP171.8 billion on March 31, up 31% from GBP130.8 billion on March 31, 2025, due to net inflows of GBP2.8 billion and the Sanlam take-on of GBO18.3 billion.

During the 2026 financial year, Ninety One acquired Sanlam Investment Management Pty Ltd's active asset management business in South Africa, and became the permanent investment manager to manage assets for Sanlam Investments UK Ltd. Sanlam received about 12.3% equity stake in Ninety One through a combination of Ninety One Ltd and Ninety One PLC shares.

Net inflows were GBP2.8 billion for the financial year to March 31, swung from GBP4.9 billion outflows a prior year.

For the 12 months that ended March 31, pretax profit was GBP207.5 million, up 2% from GBP204.3 million a year before.

Ninety One said there was a positive market and foreign exchange impact of GBP19.9 billion, up from positive GBP9.7 billion.

The money manager declared a final dividend of 7.4 pence from 6.8p, lifting to total payout for the 2026 financial year up 10% to 13.4p from 12.2p.

Ninety One said it has extended its share buyback to no later that July 21 and increased the programme to GBP55 million from GBP30 million. It launched the repurchase plan on March 2025.

Basic earnings per share and headline EPS were up 1.7% to 17.5p from 17.2p, while adjusted EPS rose 12% to 17.4p from 15.5p.

"Ninety One is a resilient and robust business with positive momentum," Ninety One Founder & Chief Executive Officer Hendrik du Toit said, adding: "The demand recovery for emerging markets is visible and our offering competitive. We are in a stronger position than a year ago."

Lookign ahead, Ninety One said it is moving from a defensive to a much more "risk-on" approach, despite "an extremely challenging geopolitical environment".

Shares in Ninety One in London declined 6.9% to 206.74 pence on Wednesday morning. In Johannesburg, Ninety One Ltd shares fell 6.1% to ZAR43.60, and Ninety One PLC slid 6.7% to ZAR45.24.

By Artwell Dlamini, Alliance News senior reporter South Africa

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