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£17m
Operating profit before tax |
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Fund management
While we have not seen significant increases in world equity markets in
the first half of 2004, markets have remained steady and this has helped
to restore some investor confidence.
Worldwide assets under management
at 30 June 2004 were
£242 billion (31 December 2003: £240 billion). Our overall operating result grew to £17 million (2003: £10 million) due to fees on higher funds under management and improved performance in some markets.
UK
Morley Fund Management has a global presence with offices in London, Melbourne, Dublin, Singapore, Warsaw, Boston, Milan and Madrid. Morley's core expertise is in UK and European equities, fixed income and property, with other specialisms including socially responsible investments and alternative investments.
Our UK fund management business comprises the retail and institutional business of Morley Fund Management, a retail investment business operating as Norwich Union, and our collective investment business with The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBSG).
Our combined UK operations reported a profit of £3 million
(2003: £5 million) in aggregate. This comprises a profit of £6 million (2003: £6 million) from Morley's UK operations, a profit of £3 million (2003: loss of £1 million) reported by our retail business, and a loss of £6 million (2003: nil) reported by our collective investment business with RBSG, which reflects new business strain from increasing sales of regular premium investment products.
Within the group result are additional profits of £4 million
(2003: £1 million) relating to Morley's overseas and pooled pensions businesses.
France
Aviva Gestion d'Actifs reported operating profit of £8 million
(2003: £6 million). Our successful fund performance earned three gold awards from La Tribune/Standard & Poor's for best provider across the product range over one, three and five years.
Netherlands
Increased investment product sales of £120 million
(2003: £115 million) reflected higher sales of mutual funds and a number of large group contracts.
Australia
Sales through our top-five-ranking investment portfolio service, Navigator, were £323 million (2003: £294 million) including
£5 million (2003: £3 million) of sales in Singapore through Navigator Asia. This reflected increasing optimism among investors as the equity market has started to show signs of recovery. |
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