Ashmore Group plc Investor presentation
March 2025
www.ashmoregroup.com
Contents
Ashmore Group plc | Page | Emerging Markets | Page |
Ashmore 'at a glance' | 3 | Superior growth | 17 |
Capitalising on the Emerging Markets opportunity | 4 | Structural reforms | 18 |
Three-phase growth strategy | 5 | Diversification provides opportunities | 19 |
Active investment processes | 9 | Active vs passive investing | 20 |
Remuneration philosophy | 13 | Index valuations | 21 |
Delivering returns for shareholders | 14 | Outlook | 22 |
Sustainability | 15 | ||
Summary of recent financial performance | 23 | ||
Appendix | 34 | ||
Contact details | 37 |
2
Ashmore 'at a glance'
- A specialist Emerging Markets manager with USD 48.8 bn AuM (31 December 2024) diversified across asset classes
- Active investment management delivered by committee-based investment processes with 30 years' experience; not a 'star culture'
- Three-phasestrategy to capitalise on structural growth and convergence trends across Emerging Markets
- Remuneration philosophy aligns interests, provides cost flexibility and delivers employee loyalty (~38% equity owned by employees)
- 284 employees in 11 countries, with global operating hubs complemented by operations in emerging countries
- Relatively high operating margin (42%) supported by scalable operating platform
- Well-capitalised,liquid balance sheet with c.£650m financial resources including c.£340m cash
Source: Ashmore, AuM charts as of 31 December 2024
AuM: diversified by investment theme & client type
Alternatives, 3%
External debt, | |
Equities, 14% | 15% |
Blended debt,
23%
Local currency, | ||
36% | ||
Corporate debt, | ||
9% | ||
Foundations / | ||
Intermediary retail endowments | ||
4% | 1% | |
Funds / sub- | ||
advisers | Central banks | |
9% | 24% |
Corporates /
financial
institutions
20%
Sovereign wealth
funds
23%
Pension plans | ||
18% | Governments | |
1% | 3 | |
Capitalising on the Emerging Markets opportunity
Emerging Markets offer superior growth, supported by reforms and diversification
- Superior GDP growth vs Developed Markets
- Structural reforms support growth & provide resilience
- Diversification with more than 70 emerging countries
- Dominant share: FX reserves (72%) & population (84%), underrepresented in global index weights of 10% to 30%
Consistent strategy to deliver meaningful AuM growth in each phase
Phase 1: Long-term growth from increasing institutional & retail target allocations from underweight levels
Phase 2: Diversify through growth in equities, adding alternatives, deeper retail market penetration
Phase 3: Add scale & diversity through local markets
Established business model adapts to market cycles
- Scalable platform
- Efficient model delivers high EBITDA margin relative to industry
- Meaningful cash generation
- Strong, liquid balance sheet enables investment for future growth and generates profits
- Aligns employees through the cycle with flexible remuneration structure
- Deliver returns to shareholders through ordinary dividends
Source: United Nations, IMF, MSCI, JP Morgan, Ashmore
4
Three-phase growth strategy
• Developed world investors hold more than USD 100 trillion of assets and are profoundly underweight Emerging Markets; target allocations are less than 10% compared with global benchmark weights of approximately 10% to 30%
• The Emerging Markets investment universe continues to grow and diversify, and Ashmore strives to be at the forefront of accessing new market opportunities as they arise
• Diversifying revenue streams provides greater stability through market cycles
• Industry AuM in Emerging Markets is growing twice as fast as the developed world
• This presents a significant growth opportunity in local asset management platforms, as well as cross-border Emerging Markets opportunities over the longer term
Source: United Nations, IMF, MSCI, JP Morgan, Ashmore, as of December 2023
5
Strategy phase 1:
Establish Emerging Markets asset classes
- Ashmore's specialist focus means it is well-placed to exploit the significant growth potential as emerging nations develop
- Large investable markets across fixed income, currencies, equities and illiquid assets
- Institutional allocations are underweight and rising steadily
- Typically mid-single digit % target allocation to Emerging Markets, increasing over time on a growing pool of capital
- MSCI All Cap World index has 11% EM weight
- JP Morgan GBI-Agg Diversified index has 32% EM weight
- Allocations will increase as Emerging Markets are increasingly viewed as mainstream asset classes
Ashmore's specialism, expertise, experience and distribution model enable it to grow AuM by participating in rising investor allocations to Emerging Markets
Source: IMF, MSCI, JP Morgan, Ashmore, as of December 2023
Convergence: GDP per capita (indexed 1980 = 100)
2023
EM = US$15,250
DM = US$66,000
1980
EM = US$1,600
DM = US$10,200
1980 | 1985 | 1990 | 1995 | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 2025f |
Developed Markets | Emerging Markets | ||||||||
Significant growth opportunity from higher allocations (%) 1
8.88.8
6.2
5.0 | 4.7 | |||||||
4.3 | ||||||||
3.8 | ||||||||
2.5 | 2.0 | |||||||
n/a | ||||||||
2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 2022 | ||||
Equity | Fixed income | |||||||
- Ashmore, target allocations disclosed in annual reports of representative European and US pension funds collectively responsible for more than US$750 billion of assets
6
Strategy phase 2:
Diversify assets under management
- Diversification mitigates impact of cyclical factors on revenues, and includes asset classes, products and clients (type & location)
- Focus on increasing scale of equities & alternatives AuM, and growing IG strategies
- Cyclical opportunities in intermediary retail channels
- Ashmore continues to evolve as Emerging Markets provide additional risk/return opportunities
AuM by client location
Americas | |
Middle East & | 11% |
Africa | |
31% |
Europe
31%
Asia Pacific
23%
UK 4%
AuM development (USD bn)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | ||||||
H1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
External debt | Local currency | Corporate debt | Blended debt | Equities | Alternatives | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Focus on further diversification by growing:
- Equities (14% AuM)
- Intermediary retail (4% AuM)
- Alternatives (3% AuM)
- IG strategies (10% AuM)
Source: Ashmore, as of 31 December 2024
7
Strategy phase 3:
Mobilise Emerging Markets capital
- Investable capital pools in Emerging Markets are growing faster than in Developed Markets
- AuM growth of +2% in H1 2025 to US$7.6 billion, now 16% of Group
- Diversification benefits
- AuM growth increase despite global macro headwinds
- Further growth available
- Opportunities in most regions to develop network further
Increasing contribution from local offices
8.0 | 20% | |
7.0 | 18% | |
6.0 | 16% | |
14% | ||
5.0 | 12% | |
4.0 | 10% | |
3.0 | 8% | |
2.0 | 6% | |
4% | ||
1.0 | 2% | |
0.0 | 0% | |
2010 | 2020 | H1 2025 | ||
AuM (US$bn, lhs) | AuM % Group (rhs) | Attributable profit % Group (rhs) | ||
% of Group | FY2010 | FY2020 | H1 2025 |
AuM | 1% | 6% | 16% |
Revenues | 3% | 9% | 29% |
EBITDA | 1% | 7% | 39% |
EBITDA margin (%) | 33% | 48% | 56% |
Ashmore will continue to develop its network of local businesses, and target larger EM institutions, to increase proportion of AuM from EM-domiciled clients from 38% today
8
Active investment processes
- Specialist, active investment management is required to exploit inefficiencies in Emerging Markets
-
Investment committees oversee experienced teams with collective responsibility for strategies in each theme
˗ No 'star' culture - ~100 investment professionals covering global EM fixed income & equities and local asset management
- Proprietary research including ESG scoring for all portfolios
- No prescribed house view, but insights shared between global and local investment teams
9
Investment themes
THEME
GLOBAL STRATEGIES
REGIONAL / COUNTRY STRATEGIES
FIXED INCOME
(USD 40.3bn)
External Debt | Local | Corporate | |||||
Currency | Debt | ||||||
(USD 7.1bn) | |||||||
(USD 17.3bn) | (USD 4.6bn) | ||||||
• | Broad | • | Bonds | • | Broad | ||
• | Sovereign | • | Bonds (Broad) | • | High yield | ||
• | Sovereign, | • | FX+ | • | Investment | ||
investment | • | Investment | grade | ||||
grade | grade | • | Short duration | ||||
• | Short duration | • | Volatility- | • | Income | ||
• | ESG | managed bonds | • | ESG | |||
• | Cash | • | Overlay | ||||
management | • | ESG | |||||
• | Indonesia | • | Indonesia | • | Asia high yield | ||
• | Saudi Arabia | ||||||
ALTERNATIVES
(USD 1.5bn)
EQUITIES
(USD 7.0bn)
Blended Debt
(USD 11.3bn)
• | Blended | • | EM Active | • | EM equity | • EM frontier | • | Private equity | ||||
• | Investment | • | EM Shariah | • | EM ex China | - Healthcare | ||||||
grade | • | Multi-asset | • | EM ESG | • | Infrastructure | ||||||
• | Absolute return | • | EM small cap | • | Special | |||||||
• | Frontier | situations | ||||||||||
• | ESG | • | Distressed debt | |||||||||
• | Impact | • | Real estate | |||||||||
• | Andean | • | Africa | • | Andean |
• | India | • | Middle East | • | Middle East |
• | Indonesia | • | Qatar | (GCC) | |
• | Indonesia ESG | • | South and East | ||
• | Saudi Arabia | Asia |
- Saudi Arabia Shariah
10
Attachments
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Disclaimer
Ashmore Group plc published this content on March 06, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on March 06, 2025 at 14:59:02.587.