Ashmore Share Discussion Threads

[cerrito] 25/2/2009 19:48

Independent view
quote
Ashmore Group

Our view: Hold

Share price: 107p (+6.25p)

The dire financial markets are an opportunity for a group like the emerging markets asset manager Ashmore, says the group's finance director Graeme Dell. With more distressed situations on offer, a punt now could be hugely beneficial in one, two or three years' time, he adds. Despite Mr Dell saying that the group was pleased with yesterday's interim results, and that they beat most other asset managers, they were still below most analysts' expectations, with pre-tax profits down £20.6m at £80.3m. Worse still for investors, the shares have performed woefully in recent weeks, including a 25 per cent drop in the last month alone.

Mr Dell refutes the suggestion that clients are opting for asset classes without exposure to the emerging markets, despite the group's assets-under-management falling by more than 34 per cent in the first half of the current financial year.

Despite the numbers not being great, we rather like Ashmore's bullishness and after saying sell last September, when the stock was at 210p, we are tempted to change that. Watchers at Singer acknowledge that while the shares have been weak recently, they are now trading at 6.4 times earnings per share, and on a maintained dividend, offer a yield of 11.9 per cent, making a punt worthwhile. We are more cautious, but think Ashmore is certainly worth holding. Hold.

[liquidkid] 24/2/2009 10:30

Ok so results out FUM down 34% wow but they still make bacon why is that?
Somewhere there is a billion $$$ or so that ASHM invested in Phillipines Petron Corp this year. This is buried deep in one of the funds and is not mentioned. ASHM the management company runs it. For the second half of the purchase they paid 6.85 pesos when the market value was 4.35 so that's over a 50% increase in the value of one of the funds in December on that transaction. The holding could be in the local currency debt or the Special Sits fund. They also sold a call option to San Miguel for $10mn and can also extract management fee from this loss making entity. Ashmore plc is still holding a stack of cash so it must be some kind of complex financing structure where ashmore creates a debt instrument which one of the fund buys and the cash from the fund is paid to the selling Government. It's all too opaque to find info on this & too much guess work so I've closed out short.

[farenheit] 03/12/2008 17:43

See they are buying their own shares as a company aswell, anyone know/think what it means?

[liquidkid] 27/11/2008 09:14

Dead Stock, always has been.
Been watching the Petron Stake on offer ASHM got till 5th Dec to make a decision & are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The government has stuck to its original asking price of P6.85 per share, (about $500mn) which ASHM do not have & the market current price is P4.35. ASHM bought the other half earlier in the year for P6.55

If they end up buying this then I'd expect them to get re-rated as a Third World Oil & Gas Exploration Company, from its current rating as a Third World Sub prime Investor.

The other thing is the share re-purchases make no sense to me at all. Surely they have somewhere better to put the money?

[saltaire111] 25/11/2008 22:53

Looks like this is a dead thread. Anyone out there????

[elmamul] 25/6/2008 12:27

Anyone know the reason for todays drop ? now £2.105

[liquidkid] 10/1/2008 11:51

Trading statement next week on Tues 15th
Following the trading of their new AGOL since its listing a month ago - none, zip. oh there was 2500 traded on 18/12 This was a e500mn offer which left the underwriters with a quarter of the shares and its only two main investors Alliance trust and Blackrock with a third of the voting rights.

[liquidkid] 10/12/2007 14:11

As expected Goldmans and JP Morgan have been stuck with a bunch of these and no over allotment...


7 December 2007 Ashmore Global Opportunities Limited AGOL.L

OFFER SIZE STATEMENT
Ashmore Global Opportunities Limited (the "Company") announces that the
following Offer Size Statement is available for viewing at the locations set out below.

The Offer Size Statement relates to the Company's global offer of US Dollar
Shares, Euro Shares and Sterling Shares at US$10 per US Dollar Share, e10 per
Euro Share and £10 per Sterling Share (the "Offer") and proposed admission to a
secondary listing on the Official List and to trading on the London Stock
Exchange's main market. It is expected that trading will commence on the London
Stock Exchange on 12 December 2007.

Pursuant to the arrangements described in the Prospectus, (a) Goldman Sachs
International has subscribed for the following Shares at the Offer Price:
approximately 32.4% of the issued US Dollar Shares, approximately 28.4% of the
issued Euro Shares and approximately 19.7% of the issued Sterling Shares and (b) J.P.Morgan Securities Ltd has subscribed for the following Shares at the Offer Price: approximately 8.1% of the issued US Dollar Shares, approximately 4.8% of the issued Euro Shares and approximately 6.2% of the issued Sterling Shares. No shares have been over allocated in the offer.

[liquidkid] 03/12/2007 15:19

Its a bit of a lottery this bond game now...

November 30, 2007 Friday
A pair of hedge funds that are getting battered by the choppy markets of the past few months are serving as a stark reminder that the pain inflicted on the once white-hot hedge-fund sector isn't only confined to those with subprime-bond exposure. Drake Capital Management's $3.91 billion flagship Global Opportunities fund dropped an eye-popping 10.5 percent in October after sailing through last year with astronomical gains. The fund is down 9.91 percent for the year, according to HSBC. That stands in sharp contrast to last year, when the fund garnered widespread accolades as it racked up a 41 percent gain on bets on currencies, commodities and emerging markets equities. Classified in the hedge-fund community as a global bond fund, Drake's flagship fund in reality is described by hedge fund investors as a classic macro fund, making bets across most liquid asset classes.
Drake founders Anthony Faillace and Steven Lutrell did not return multiple calls and e-mails.

[liquidkid] 02/11/2007 14:22

Not a good time to be trying to raise €500m for a special situations fund of funds, who would want to park their money there in this enviroment? Although Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are touting for them so should be able to pull a bit in.

[liquidkid] 16/10/2007 08:44

Quartery AUM today the Group delivered net subscriptions of US$100mn for the quarter. Pretty poor start for the 2008 year. Last year they sucked in $8.3bn

[its the oxman] 12/10/2007 15:53

sold half my holding at 301p - getting tempted to buy it back as we near 270p

[its the oxman] 19/9/2007 20:50

looking good for a move back to 300p and above if sentiment on financials starts to turn

[cerrito] 12/9/2007 21:30

Emerging markets investment specialist Ashmore closed up 5.4% at 256p yesterday but is now down 5.47%, a fall of 14p to 242p after posting end of year results.


The fall was prompted by an announcment that 26.6 million shares were being sold on behalf of several employees.

The £1.7bn FTSE 250 company, which launched in 1992, today reported a 57% increase in assets under management, up $11.5bn to $31bn, up to the end of June, prior to current market volatility.

Mark Coombs, chief executive of Ashmore, says that progress is being made in achieving its goal of becoming the world's leading emerging markets investment manager.

The company said that a key driver of profit growth (pre-tax profits are up 26% to £131.4m) was a 61% increase in net management fees.

UBS retains its "Buy" rating with a 280p target price. In a note this morning, analyst Simome Glass says Ashmore will benefit from any
allocations into emerging market debt asset class.

"In our view, shares deserve a premium to peers due to superior earnings growth profile and high cash generation, which could result in increased shareholder returns in the medium-term."

According to Glass, the main risks facing the company include staff defections - the company has only 17 investment professionals. Other threats come from a sustained market fall which she says would be exaggerated in emerging markets leading to outflows. She also points to the high concentration of clients with just five holding 35% of assets under management.

A month ago Citigroup issued a note adding Ashmore to its "Conviction Buy List" with a 310p price target, saying: "We expect its above-industry asset and earnings growth to drive medium-term outperformance" but Citigroup no longer covers the company.

According to today's results, the proportion of retail investors' money under management has increased from 11% to 15%.

In its outlook the company says: "Despite continuing market volatility, trading conditions across the Group's investment themes during the last quarter of the 2007 financial year and into the start of the 2008 financial year remain satisfactory. The Group continues to believe that strong macro-economic, demographic and political factors, together with enhanced liquidity, index weighting and credit worthiness in the Group's markets will continue to underpin long-term growth across emerging market classes."

[its the oxman] 23/8/2007 12:36

anyone a view on how ashmore's funds have held up through the credit squeeze

[liquidkid] 15/8/2007 12:11

Looks like opportunistic trading from them. I wonder when they'll start pumping their own money into the AHL or the ESS funds like the Goldman Sachs crowd had to with their quant fund.

[contrarian2investor] 15/8/2007 11:25

LiquidKid, thanks for that. It covers all I need to know. But questions why the directors in RAB Capital and MAN making huge purchases now, when the credit crunch is at its hit. IS this merely a smokescreen, similiar to the ECB and the US attempts last week to prop up the markets?

[liquidkid] 15/8/2007 11:12

Start with this,

EMLIP, is the flagship fund, (Ashmore Emerging Markets Liquid Investment Portfolio)

MEXID: AZEMLI

The main risks associated with a diversified emerging market debt portfolio, as for other risk and credit markets, come from global liquidity and levels of investor aversion.

Which I'd say is pretty problematic right now.

[contrarian2investor] 15/8/2007 10:46

ncp3 thanks for your reply.

[ncp3] 14/8/2007 18:33

contrarian2investor - I sold out near £3 but still rate this stock despite Jim Pettigrew leaving and may get back in when I have freed up some cash. I'm not sure if ASHM are exposed to the sub-prime fallout, so would suggest you view their website/products.