The Zurich-based firm, which sold its banking unit in 2019, reaches record profits in its first year as pure play asset manager.
The Bellevue group ended 2021 with net profits of CHF 43 million, almost doubling the amount from the previous year, it said in a statement Tuesday. Results were driven by supportive market conditions and by strong demand for healthcare investments in 2021.
Client assets grew to 12.8 billion Swiss francs in 2021 from 12.0 billion the year before. Net new money rose to 721.6 million francs from 377 million francs the previous year.
Operational Strength
«Thanks to significantly higher customer assets, particularly in the first half of the year, we were able to further increase our operating strength,» said Bellevue Group CEO Andre Rueegg.» He went on to note that result was somewhat tempere by a noticeable slowdown resulting from a correction the global healthcare markets in the second half of the year.
Still, «the current earnings level, which is primarily based on recurring revenues, provides a promising foundation for exploiting Bellevue's growth potential. To this end, we are making targeted investments in the expansion of our international sales markets and channels, such as most recently in Asia,» he added.
No Russia Exposure
Bellevue has not investments in Russia, nor any Russian clients, and the firm divested itself from oil assets which amounted to less than 50 million Swiss francs, Rueegg said in response to a question.
Dividend
Due to the significantly improved profit, the dividend will be increased by 80 percent to 2.70 Swiss francs per share compared to the previous year.
The firm turned into a pure asset manager when it sold Bank am Bellevue in 2019.
