GAM expects a net loss of around $336 million for 2022

ZURICH (Reuters) -GAM expects to report a net loss after tax of approximately 309.9 million Swiss francs ($335.83 million) for the full year 2022, after experiencing negative asset flows, the Swiss asset manager said on Wednesday.

The group said it also expects to report an underlying pre-tax loss of approximately 42.8 million Swiss francs.

“2022 was a challenging year with our financial results seeing the impact from a market-led decline in our assets under management,” GAM’s Chairman David Jacob said.

The company announced it has moved the date of its full-year 2022 results presentation to April 25, 2023, and said it would also provide an update on a strategic review on the same day.

Vontobel analyst Andreas Venditti said 2022 was a challenging year for the asset management industry and said he welcomed the news of GAM’s planned strategic update.

“The main problem is a lack of growth and the situation will remain difficult as long as Investment Management net flows do not turn sustainably positive,” he said.

Giacomo Tilotta, head of European equity at AcomeA SGR which according to Refinitiv data owns 1.75% of the Swiss asset manager, said the profit warning showed “the depreciation of GAM’s brand.”

He sees GAM as being “strongly committed” to a restructuring process and thus expects a slowdown in outflows for the remainder of the year and probably the first inflows in 2024.

In December it was reported that GAM had hired bankers from UBS to explore strategic options, including a possible sale.

“The decision to postpone the publication of the annual results by two months could be seen precisely with a view to presenting a company with a solid strategy in order to be attractive on the market,” Tilotta said.

($1 = 0.9228 Swiss franc)

(Reporting by Noele Illien; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Sharon Singleton and Jonathan Oatis)