Investment House Best Dash Published tonight (Wednesday) its financial results for 2021 and they reflect the ruling given against it last summer, in which it was ordered to pay hundreds of millions of shekels for a class action lawsuit against it.
Following a provision of NIS 423 million in order to meet the payment imposed on him in the judgment, Meitav Lapel recorded a loss of NIS 932 million (NIS 414 million as the obituary attributed to the shareholders). The net profit for the group’s shareholders in 2021, net of this provision, amounted to NIS 129 million, compared with a net profit of NIS 180 million last year. Excluding a one-time profit of NIS 76 million presented by Meitav Dash in 2020 due to a decrease in liquidity control, this is an increase in net profit of about 24%.
Excluding the losses recorded following the ruling, revenues in 2021 amounted to NIS 1.1 billion, an increase of 12%. Most of the increase in the reporting period is due to an increase in income from asset management, the stock exchange author and the non-bank credit sector, mainly Peninsula.
The volume of provident and pension fund assets managed by the company increased by about 42% to about NIS 85 billion. The Investment House stated that even after the date of the reports and despite the declines in the markets at the beginning of 2022, the growth in managed assets continued and as of March 8, 2022, the volume of assets amounted to NIS 85.5 billion.
Revenues in 2021 in the long-term savings segment amounted to NIS 339 million, compared with NIS 302 million last year. The increase in the reporting period is mainly due to an increase in the average volume of assets resulting from both a return on assets, an increased inflow of funds, an increase in current deposits in pension funds and the purchase of new pension funds by Hellman Aldubi.
Revenues in 2021 in the current savings segment amounted to NIS 371 million, compared with NIS 323 million last year. The increase in the reporting period is mainly due to an increase in the average volume of assets and is raised in traditional funds and imitation funds with high average management fees, compared with redemptions in monetary funds and mutual funds with significantly lower management fees. Revenues in 2021 in the brokerage activity for private clients (Meitav Dash Trade) amounted to NIS 115 million, compared with NIS 99 million last year.
The volume of assets under management in 2021 amounted to a peak of about NIS 21 billion.
The ruling was handed down in August as part of a class action lawsuit filed in 2012 by CPA Israel Greenberg, who joined the fund in 1969 and is now retired; and Michael Levinard, a former permanent member who joined the fund in 1984. Time to join the box office.
According to the ruling of the Tel Aviv Economic Court, the payment, which includes the compensation to the group members and part of the fees for the representative plaintiffs’ attorneys, had to be transferred during the month (March). In January, however, the Supreme Court postponed the date of payment, amounting to NIS 390 million, which Meitav Dash was ordered to pay. Judge Yitzhak Amit denied the payment after a decision was made on the appeal filed by Meitav Dash, when the date for hearing the appeal has not yet been set.
However, Amit ruled that the investment house must pay the compensation to the class plaintiffs as well as part of the fee for their attorneys, in the total amount of approximately NIS 10.3 million.
Ilan Raviv, CEO of Meitav Dash Investments: “The Group continues its strong business momentum – although the Group’s results were affected by expenses recorded following lawsuits, along with outstanding long-term returns, and in all areas of investment management – provident and pension, mutual funds and portfolio management, we Accelerated growth is seen both in the stock exchange member and in the field of non-bank credit. This is reflected in a significant increase in the volume of assets under management and a record income of more than NIS 1 billion, which contributes to the continued momentum going forward. In recent months, we have been raising more than NIS 1.5 billion a month in provident funds, and the monthly deposits in pension funds are approaching NIS 400 million. We estimate that the trend will continue in the coming quarters. The strong growth of the investment house allows us to continue to invest in recruiting professionals, upgrading and strengthening infrastructure and technology, which support the continued growth. “