Third Quarter Trading Update

RNS Number : 3192C

Record PLC

16 January 2015

 



RECORD PLC
THIRD QUARTER TRADING UPDATE

Record plc ("Record" or the "Company"), the specialist currency manager, announces today that the Group's assets under management equivalents ("AUME") as at 31^st December 2014 totalled $52.7 billion (30^th September 2014: $52.6 billion).

AUME expressed in Sterling as at 31^st December 2014 totalled £33.8 billion (30^th September 2014: £32.4 billion).

1.      AUME composition

Record saw a small increase in AUME between 30^th September 2014 and 31^st December 2014 when expressed in US Dollars and a larger increase when expressed in Sterling.  The composition of AUME by product was as follows:

AUME $ billion
	31st December 2014	30th September 2014
Dynamic Hedging	9.7	10.6
Passive Hedging	40.0	39.1
Currency for Return (Note 1)	2.8	2.6
Cash & Futures	0.2	0.3
Total	52.7	52.6

Note 1: This includes $0.3 billion of Emerging Market strategies (30^th September 2014: $0.4 billion).

2.      AUME Movement

Net client AUME flows in the three months to 31^st December 2014 by product were as follows:

Net client AUME flows - $ billion
	3 months to 31st December 2014	3 months to 30th September 2014
Dynamic Hedging	(0.6)	(0.1)
Passive Hedging	0.5	(0.2)
Currency for Return	0.3	0.1
Cash & Futures	(0.1)	-
Total	0.1	(0.2)

Net client AUME flows in Hedging and Currency for Return products principally reflect amendments to mandate sizes for existing clients.

Record had 51 clients at 31^st December 2014 (30^th September 2014: 49 clients).

The factors other than client flows, which have had no aggregate impact on AUME during the quarter, were as follows:

(i)         Exchange rate movements:                                                                       -$1.8bn     Exchange rate movements during the period affect the conversion of non-US Dollar mandate sizes into US Dollar AUME.

(ii)        Movements in global stock and other markets:                                     +$1.8bn     Substantially all the Passive and Dynamic Hedging, and some of the Currency for Return mandates, are linked to stock and other market levels.  Consequently AUME is affected by movements in these markets.

Record has been notified of various mandate changes which, whilst not reflected in AUME as at 31^st December 2014, will affect AUME in the three months ending 31^st March 2015.  These include outflows from Dynamic Hedging of approximately $1.4 billion and inflows into Dynamic Hedging of approximately $0.8 billion to be charged on a management plus performance fee basis, both of which have been implemented.  Furthermore net inflows into Passive Hedging from new and existing clients of approximately $2.3 billion are expected by the end of the current quarter.

In addition, a new client has signed a Multi-Strategy mandate, Record's second, which we expect to consist of AUME of approximately $300 million, also by the end of the current quarter.  All AUME is quoted by convention in US Dollars, and fee rates for each mandate are consistent with previously published average fees rates for each product.

Record expects the net effect of these mandate changes to increase total AUME by approximately $2.0 billion, and to be modestly accretive to revenues and earnings on an annualised basis.

With respect to investment performance during the quarter, our Dynamic Hedging programmes performed as expected for US clients.  The US Dollar strengthened against most G10 currencies, and as a result the returns of the hedging programmes were positive over the quarter.  The largest gains came from hedges on the Euro, Japanese Yen and Swiss Franc, as hedge ratios, for these currencies, remained high throughout the period.

For UK-based Dynamic Hedging clients the programmes also performed as expected, controlling hedging losses in response to Sterling weakening against the weighted basket of currencies in the programmes.  Hedge ratios in the US Dollar remained low as the US Dollar continued to strengthen against Sterling, with costs offset by returns from hedging the Japanese Yen in particular.

Investment performance in Record's Active Forward Rate Bias (FRB) product was positive during the quarter ending 31^st December 2014 and for an ungeared portfolio equated to a return of +1.22% over the quarter (3 months to 30^th September 2014: return of +1.36%).  This compares to a +0.34% return in the quarter for the FTSE Currency FRB10 index (excess return in Sterling).  This variance is the result of differences in the allocations of these two strategies to some of the weaker-performing currencies in the quarter.  The FTSE FRB10 Index Fund continues to track the index closely, on a 1.8x-geared basis.

Record's Emerging Market product investment performance was negative during the quarter ending 31^st December 2014 and for an un-geared portfolio equated to a quarterly return of -1.53% (3 months to 30^th September 2014: return of +0.28%).  This negative performance was mainly attributable to losses from the Russian Rouble.  Annualised performance since inception (30^th November 2009) for an un-geared portfolio is +1.54% p.a.

Investment performance in Record's live Multi-Strategy product was positive during the quarter ending 31^st December 2014 as the Emerging Market losses were overcome by positive returns from the other three strategies (FRB10, Momentum and Value) with the Value strategy contributing the most.  For an un-geared portfolio, the return was +1.00% over the quarter ending 31^st December 2014 (3 months to 30^th September 2014: return of +0.66%).  Annualised performance since inception (31^st July 2012) for an un-geared portfolio is +2.51% p.a.

3.      AVERAGE FEE RATES

During the quarter to 31^st December 2014, fee rates for all products remained broadly unchanged from the previous quarter.

4.      CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S COMMENT

Chief Executive James Wood-Collins, commenting on business development, said:

"We continue to see the return to a more divergent monetary policy environment and hence a more 'normal' currency market environment including the expectation of wider interest rate differentials, and stronger trends - a development that has continued since our last trading update and the subsequent announcement of our interim results.

"In particular, appreciation of the US Dollar over this period has resulted in strong performance for our US hedging clients.  This may create a more supportive environment for growing our hedging business further in the US, although any procurement processes are still expected to be competitive and lengthy, with the outcome necessarily uncertain.

"As reported above, we are anticipating various mandate changes in the current quarter across all product lines, representing continued growth in Passive Hedging, some net reduction in existing Dynamic Hedging mandates, as well as our second Multi-Strategy mandate; the last of these is particularly welcome.  Whilst the net impact of these changes on revenues and earnings is only modestly positive, the diversification across clients and product types continues."

Record will announce its fourth quarter trading update on 24^th April 2015.

For further information, please contact:

Record plc                                                                             Tel: [phone]

James Wood-Collins, Chief Executive Officer

Steve Cullen, Chief Finance Officer

MHP                                                                                        Tel: [phone]

Nick Denton                                                                                       [e-mail]

Vicky Watkins

James Moncrieff

Notes to Editors

Record plc

Record is a specialist currency manager and provider of currency hedging services for institutional clients. Founded in 1983, Record has established a market leading position as a currency manager. Specifically, the Group has a leading position in managing Dynamic Hedging and Currency for Return for institutional clients.

The Group has three principal product lines:

-    Dynamic Hedging, where Record seeks to eliminate the impact of currency movements on elements of clients' investment portfolios that are denominated in foreign currencies when these movements are expected to result in an economic loss to the client, but not to do so when they are expected to result in an economic gain;

-    Passive Hedging, where Record seeks to eliminate fully or partially the economic impact of currency movements on elements of clients' investment portfolios that are denominated in foreign currencies; and

-    Currency for Return, in which Record enters into currency contracts for clients with the objective of generating positive returns.

Record (LSE: REC) was admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange on 3^rd December 2007.

This announcement includes information with respect to Record's financial condition, its results of operations and business, strategy, plans and objectives. All statements in this document, other than statements of historical fact, including words such as "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "believes", "seeks", "estimates", "may", "will", "continue", "project" and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements.

These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of the Company's future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause the actual future results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements contained in this document are based on numerous assumptions regarding Record's present and future business and strategy and speak only as at the date of this announcement.

The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained in this announcement whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

END

 

 

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