Magellan shares rise after half-year profit lift
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More news: Shares in Magellan Financial Group rose 8% to $9.65 in early trading on the ASX after the investment manager reported a 24% increase in statutory profit. Revenue fell 15% to $169 million while earnings per share decreased by 4% to 51.6 cents each. Magellan will pay a partly-franked interim dividend of 29.4 cents a share, down 37% from a year ago.
The fund manager has endured a challenging period over the last three years during which it has suffered investment underperformance, seen departures of senior management figures and faced significant outflows. Despite an improvement in the last few months, Magellan’s funds under management stood at $36.3 billion at January-end, a fraction of the $113.9 billion corpus it held at the end of FY2021.
Maple-Brown Abbott appoints Melanie McQuire as acting CEO
More news: Maple-Brown Abbott has appointed its chief operating officer Melanie McQuire as acting chief executive, following the resignation of Sophia Rahmani who has joined Magellan Financial Group as its new head.
McQuire will also join the Maple-Brown Abbott Limited board. She started with the fund manager in 2020 as COO, sits on the Maple-Brown Abbott Funds board and has previously served in the role of acting CEO.
Magellan appoints Maple-Brown Abbott’s Sophia Rahmani as CEO
The news: Magellan Financial Group has announced its next chief executive will be Sophia Rahmani, former CEO of Maple-Brown Abbott.
The context: Rahmani was CEO and managing director of Maple-Brown Abbott from 2019, and prior to that was chief operating officer, pan Asia, for Janus Henderson Investors in Singapore.
In October 2023, Magellan’s CEO of just 17 months David George stepped down from the role. During this time, Formica stepped into the role of executive chair and said it was time to “refocus leadership”.
The fund manager has not had much stability in its leadership since its former CEO Brett Cairns made a surprise exit after 14 years in December 2021.
In February 2022, Magellan founder and chief investment officer Hamish Douglass took an “indefinite medical leave of absence” and he stepped down from the board the following month. George was appointed CEO in May 2022.
Meanwhile, Magellan’s funds under management have plummeted from a high of $116 billion in November 2021 and now stands at just $36.6 billion.
What they said: “I am excited to be joining Magellan, a fund manager I have admired for its focus on clients and strong historical investment performance. I look forward to working with Andrew and the Magellan team to deliver excellence in all aspects of the business,” Rahmani said.
The source: ASX announcement
