I believe Schroders’ (LSE: SDR) ambitious plans to turbocharge business across Asia, North America and Europe should set it on course for exceptional profits growth in the years ahead.
The asset manager advised in a bubbly trading statement on Thursday that assets under management and administration stomped to a record high in the third quarter, up 9% from the start of the year to stand at £430.2bn as of the end of September.
At its core Institutional division, assets on its books rose to £247.4bn from £226.3bn at the start of the year. And looking on the Intermediary side, assets under management increased to £128.1bn from £120.1bn previously.
Master manager
As well as looking increasingly towards foreign shores to generate future business (it already operates out of 27 countries), Schroders is aiming to keep assets piling higher by doubling-down on product diversification and by focusing on key growth themes like retirement solutions and emerging markets.
Accordingly the City is pencilling in handsome earnings growth for the near-term and beyond. Schroders is predicted to deliver a 10% earnings improvement in 2017, and an extra 7% rise is predicted for next year. As a result the financial services colossus changes hands on a forward P/E ratio of 16.9 times, decent value in my opinion given the company’s excellent momentum.
Meanwhile, those seeking mighty dividend growth down the line should also pay the FTSE 100 business close attention, I reckon. Last year’s reward of 93p per share is anticipated to rise to 103p this year, yielding 3%, and again to 109p in 2018, resulting in a tasty 3.1% yield.
Schroders hit record tops above £35 per share earlier this month, and its share price has scrambled 24% higher during the course of the past year alone. I expect much, much more to come as its momentum in hugely-lucrative international growth markets picks up.
Build a fortune
CRH (LSE: CRH) has proved a go-to earnings generator in years gone by and, with its appetite for M&A action showing no sign of slowing, I am backing the building materials mammoth to keep on swelling the bottom line.
And I am not alone either. The Square Mile’s army of analysts are forecasting earnings expansion of 14% and 13% in 2017 and 2018 respectively. As if this wasn’t enough, like Schroders, CRH is also expected to keep lifting dividends at a healthy rate.
A payment of 67.5 euro cents per share is predicted for this year, creating a tasty 2.2% yield. And the yield moves to 2.3% for 2018 thanks to predictions of a 70.6 cent reward.
CRH made a bid for Kansas-based cement specialist Ash Grove for $3.5bn back in September and, while the move has been derailed by a $3.7bn-$3.8bn offer from another suitor, it underlines the company’s desire to keep the acquisitions coming thick and fast. Indeed, with the business committed to building its global footprint to light a fire under future earnings, I reckon it is worthy of its slightly-elevated prospective P/E ratio of 17.8 times.
