AMP Addresses Share Price Volatility and Future Strategy
AMP, a leading wealth management company, has responded to the recent drop in its share price by emphasizing its long-term vision. Following a significant 25 per cent decline in February, when the company reported an 11 per cent fall in full-year profit, AMP’s chair, Mike Hirst, acknowledged the challenging reporting season.
“If you have a look at CSL and other firms … Temple and Webster and others, you didn’t have to do much wrong to have an outsized reaction,” Mr Hirst said during the annual meeting in Sydney on Friday. He added that some investors had concerns about the outlook, but noted that most analysts still valued the stock around $1.80.
Following the meeting, AMP shares increased by 2.3 per cent, reaching $1.34. The new chief executive, Blair Vernon, outlined his priorities for the company: organic growth, capital discipline, and the adoption of artificial intelligence.
“There is simply no sideline position to take in this disruptive moment,” Mr Vernon stated. “Most of our people are using AI regularly, with 84 per cent using our core AI tools on a weekly basis, so our focus right now is on enhancing the productivity gains with specific training and support for our people.”
AMP has been integrating AI into various areas, including contact centres for transcription and quality checking, automating corporate functions, and note-taking in its super and pension wrap platform, North. “This is just the start, and we’ll continue to leverage our deep knowledge and experience in retirement, along with the new technology to create seamless experiences and intuitive tools for advisors and our members,” Mr Vernon said.
Innovation in North, which assists financial advisors in managing client portfolios and superannuation, has contributed to attracting 120 new advisors to the platform in the previous year, according to Mr Hirst. “North continues to gain momentum with new-to-platform and existing financial advisors, which is translating into industry recognition and improving net cash flows in our superannuation and investments business,” he said.
“We delivered strong investment performance with the majority of members receiving top quartile returns.” However, Mr Hirst acknowledged that the medium-term outlook for broader financial markets has been affected by the energy price shock and subsequent inflation fears triggered by the Middle East conflict.
“It’s the volatility, I think, that’s the key impact, and I think it’s important that people try and see their way through that volatility by riding out the storm,” he said. “Who knows how long it’s going to last? Hopefully it doesn’t go for too much longer …. but if I really knew the answer to that, I’d be extremely wealthy.”
Shareholders also raised concerns about AMP’s retail banking offering and its AMP Bank Go app, following previous questions about why AMP needed to offer banking services. “The platform we’ve picked up for Bank Go is a proven platform from the UK, which is also now operating in other countries overseas,” Mr Hirst explained.
The decline in AMP’s 2025 bottom-line net profit to $133 million marks another step in a series of declines since 2022, when the company made a profit of $387 million. Despite these challenges, AMP remains focused on its future strategy and long-term goals.
