Henderson Group – the parent company of Henderson Global Investors - has reported a £6.7 million drop in full year profits year on year for 2009.

The investment house reported pre tax profits of £73.7 million for 2009, down from £80.4 million a year earlier (click here to see summary).

However, total assets under management were up 17 per cent on 2008 to £58.1 million. The ordinary dividend per share remained unchanged at 6.1 pence.

Andrew Formica, chief executive of Henderson Group said that 2009 was a tough year and that the company’s diversity of products, cahnnels and geographical reach was what saw the business through.

He explained, ‘Overall, investment performance, the lifeblood of the business, is the best I have seen for many years with 70 per cent of our funds beating their benchmark over one year and 64 per cent over three years. This has contributed to the positive net flows in our wholesale and institutional funds for the year.

‘The acquisition and successful integration of New Star has significantly strengthened our UK retail franchise and we have already seen the benefits in our UK retail sales.’

Henderson said that there had been ‘significant improvement’ in the performance of the New Star UK fund range since it acquired the business, with 62 per cent of funds now beating their benchmarks over one year.

New Star European Special Situations managed by Richard Pease raised £128 million since launch while the Henderson Strategic Bond fund – managed by John Pattullo and Jenna Barnard – saw consistent net inflows over the year and is currently has £750 million of assets under management.