First Citizens Asset Management Ltd suffered a 1.7 per cent decline in its profit after tax for the six months ended March 31–$48.43 million compared to $49.26 million for the corresponding period in 2013.Deputy chairman Feona Lue Ping Wa said this was due to "the ongoing strategy to de-risk our holdings, partly via the sale of bonds held in two of the mutual fund portfolios".
The company's latest unaudited financial statements show that total assets under management grew by $519 million or four per cent to $13.52 billion, compared to the 5.1 per cent increase recorded for the comparable period last year.
Lue Ping Wa said: "The persistent economic environment characterised by low interest rates, high excess liquidity and limited investment opportunities has affected income growth. Notwithstanding, management remains optimistic as to future corporate investment opportunities that are expected to come to market in the second half of the financial year ending September 30, 2014."
The company, a fully-owned subsidiary of First Citizens Bank Ltd, provides asset management services for trustee funds and unit trust services to third parties.