Ann: Fourth Quarter FY24 Business Update, page-39

If you understand this then you know why until deal is done and voted share price is in the dog house.

Such a huge cost base compare to other fundies, current management has made FUM main driver for this company. By the way I went to UTS as well. Also I worked for perpetual for a while small world..

"
Perpetual CEO Rob Adams needs to find a hangover cure, and fast.

Five years in, he has done magnificently well at expanding the 138-year-old company’s empire.

Perpetual collects 25 per cent more revenue in a tough half now than it did in the full financial year before he joined. That’s big growth.

But that growth has come at a significant cost to shareholders.

If you compare Perpetual’s numbers on Wednesday to Adams’ maiden result in 2019, the group’s net profit after tax, dividend and share price have all just about halved.Net profit per share in the past six months was one-quarter of what it was five years ago, and borrowings were up eight times.

So, having bet the farm to make that Perpetual powerhouse funds arm bigger, and having asked shareholders to fund it and leveraged up the balance sheet, the acquisitions are not firing.

Perpetual is earning less for shareholders and is in a weaker financial position to withstand the tough times. That cocktail of deals, including more than $2 billion spent on asset managers at home and abroad, has left investors with a nasty hangover.

Having dealt their way into this position, Adams and his board are thinking about dealing their way out."