Market likes Perpetual motion

Perpetual ended up 16? at $22.89 in a market that fell 0.8 per cent, as investors backed the new chief executive, Chris Ryan, who had moved on two businesses seen as laggards within the fund manager.

The sale of its Smartsuper superannuation administration business added a $4.1 million impairment charge, on top of $10.6 million in charges previously announced, which will be booked in the previous financial year.

The sale of its underperforming Irish fund manager will book a $10 million impairment for the closure in the current financial year, although it will be offset by $7 million in annual savings. The funds will be transferred to the US-based fund manager Wellington, but will continue to be offered through Perpetual.

Perpetual also said it would continue to offer international equities to investors through its global resources fund and a smaller Asian equities business.

"We are very committed to international equities as a Perpetual product," Mr Ryan said. The company also forecast its annual underlying profit after tax, ignoring what it terms one-offs, will be broadly in line with previous guidance of about $73 million. But impairments offset by investment gains and write-backs in its exact market cash fund mean total net profit will fall to $62 million.

Perpetual's move was welcomed by analysts, with Deutsche writing that the Dublin closure was a key positive in its view.