AMP leaders defend share price, tout AI future
Asset management giant AMP defended its post-earnings share price decline and asked investors to look to its future instead.
Asked about a more than 25 per cent share price drop in February, when it reported an 11 per cent drop in full-year profit, chairman Mike Hirst said it had been a particularly volatile reporting season.
“If you look at CSL and other firms… Temple, Webster and others, you didn’t have to do too much wrong to get a big backlash,” Mr Hirst told shareholders at AMP’s annual meeting in Sydney on Friday.
“Some people felt the outlook wasn’t as positive as it should have been, but I would point out that all the analysts who follow us have the share price around $1.80 right now.”
AMP shares rose 2.3 percent to $1.34 after the meeting, where new CEO Blair Vernon outlined his key priorities: organic growth, capital discipline and the adoption of artificial intelligence.
“There are no lateral positions to be taken at this disruptive moment,” AMP’s former chief financial officer told shareholders.
“The majority of our employees use AI regularly, and 84 percent use our core AI tools on a weekly basis, so our focus now is to drive productivity gains with tailored training and support for our employees.”
AMP uses the technology in contact centers for transcription and quality control, automating corporate functions and annotating on its retirement and retirement package platform North.
“This is just the beginning, and we will continue to use our deep knowledge and experience in retirement, along with new technology, to create seamless experiences and intuitive tools for our advisors and members,” said Mr. Vernon.
The AMP chief said ongoing innovation at North, which helps advisers manage client portfolios and superannuation, helped attract 120 advisers to the platform in the previous year.
“North continues to build momentum with new entrants and existing financial advisors on the platform, translating into industry recognition and improving net cash flows across our pensions and investments business,” Mr Hirst said.
“We have delivered strong investment performance, with the majority of our members achieving top quartile returns.”
Mr Hirst acknowledged that the medium-term outlook for wider financial markets was clouded by inflation fears sparked by the energy price shock and subsequent conflict in the Middle East.
“I think the real impact is volatility, and I think it’s important for people to try to ride out that volatility by coming out of the storm,” he said.
“Who knows how long it will take? I hope it won’t take too long… but if I really knew the answer to that, I’d be filthy rich.”
Shareholders also voiced concerns about the group’s retail banking offering and the AMP Bank Go app, following previous analysts’ questions about why AMP should offer banking services.
“The platform we have acquired for Bank Go is a proven platform from the UK and is now operating in other countries abroad,” Mr Hirst said.
AMP’s 2025 net profit drop to $133 million was the latest in a series of declines since 2022, when the company made a profit of $387 million.
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