Sygnia on fire

Sygnia has released food results, with assets under management, revenue, and profit showing strong growth.

Sygnia is the second-largest provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in South Africa and the largest provider of international ETFs on the JSE.

On Wednesday, the financial services group released its results for the six months ended 31 March 2024.

Assets under management and administration increased by 9.1% from R312.7 billion to R341.3 billion.

Revenue increased from R408.6 million to R444.2 million, while profit after tax rose by 10.2% from R138.4 million to R152.5 million.

Sygnia declared an interim dividend per share of 90.0 cents, slightly higher than last year’s 87.0 cents.

The company said its ongoing financial success is largely dependent on the growth of assets under management and administration.

“The results are also cyclical, reflecting the performance of the markets and currency,” it told investors.

Institutional assets under management increased from R253.3 billion to R269.8 billion between March 2023 and March 2024.

Sygnia’s retail assets under management grew from R59.4 billion to R71.5 billion over the same period.

As of 31 March 2024, the total assets under management of the Sygnia Itrix range of 14 ETFs amounted to R45.2 billion, up from R36.0 billion a year earlier.

These strong results were released a year after Sygnia founder Magda Wierzycka returned as chief executive.

On 31 May 2021, Wierzycka stepped down as chief executive of the company she founded two decades earlier, handing the reins to David Hufton.

However, the company did not perform well for the next two years, and the share price was flat.

After Wierzycka’s return, the company showed strong growth, and the share price followed suit. Over the last year, Sygnia’s share price increased by 25%.

The chart below shows Sygnia’s share price over the last year.