AUM racing ahead of forecasts

By 31 August 2020, 11 months into the financial year, assets under management had grown to £19.3bn, substantially above our previous year-end forecast of £17.2bn, and 28% up on the FY19 year-end level of £15.1bn. Impax’s strong and continued progress since the March 2020 market lows sees it set to exceed our year-end forecasts for revenue (£77.9m), adjusted operating profit (£20.9m), and net cash position (£32.1m) by some margin.

Such AUM performance is indicative of both being in an asset management sweet-spot and being a winner within it. Impax has obviously benefited from positive market moves, but also continues to see substantial client inflows, which we believe will continue. The share price has reacted accordingly, closing at 493p on 8 September 2020, 27% up on the 31 December 2019 price of 389p and far in excess of broader equity indices.

Impax is scheduled to provide a more detailed breakdown of its AUM position for FY20 in early October 2020 – splitting out client flows versus market moves and providing operating unit AUM performance (London-managed listed and real assets and US-listed assets). At that time, we anticipate updating our forecasts and valuation.