Funds flow to Sygnia as listing boosts profile

Sygnia’s listing last month had increased awareness about it, boosting inflows and assets under management, the asset manager said on Wednesday.

The company said it was now preparing to launch a simple and low-cost umbrella fund and had hired two professionals from Alexander Forbes to help it grow in this new area of business.

Umbrella funds are schemes offering risk and investment benefits and employees normally participate in such funds through their employers.

“We are working on an umbrella fund proposition … we might look at strategic acquisitions to speed it up,” Sygnia CEO Magda Wierzycka said on Wednesday following the release of its financial results for the year ended-September.

The company had more than R200m in cash available for growth, but would use smaller amounts to acquire umbrella funds in the market, she said.

Sygnia said its assets under management and administration grew 21.4% during the reporting period to R137bn.

The company’s diluted headline earnings per share rose 43.4% to 60.40c.

The company declared a maiden full-year dividend of 41.07c per share.

Syngia’s shares were placed at R8.40 on listing last month.

At the end of trade on Wednesday, the share price was R14.90, unchanged on the day.