I now have pleasure handing over to Luca Mirabelli, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Luca, the floor to you.
Thank you, Rebecca, and many thanks to everyone for attending. I hope you're having a nice afternoon. We certainly have, we certainly are, given the quality of these results. So let me start right off, giving the floor to Alessandro Melzi d'Eril, CEO of Anima Holding, for his commentary. Please, Alessandro.
Thank you, Luca. Hi, everybody. As usual, I would walk you through our presentation. I would start from page two, some highlights. We reached at the end of 2024, 204 billion of assets between assets under management and assets under administration. Almost 1 billion of net inflows in the year, 8.6% in terms of weighted average performance of our assets. EUR 530 million of total revenues, + 44% if compared to last year, EUR 390 million of Adjusted EBITDA, + 47% if compared to last year, and EUR 220 million, almost EUR 228 million of net profit, + 53%. As a reminder, in 2024, we acquired a stake in Monte Paschi, increasing our stake from 1% to 4%. We have been the object of a voluntary public tender offer from Banco BPM Vita, launched on the 6th of November.
Always, as a reminder, because of this offer, the LTI plan for the management is fully vested. We'll get, we'll get back to it. Page three, the structure of the group. The group today has a shape with Anima SGR, our historical asset management company. We've approximately over EUR 190 billion of assets. Anima is managing more than 100 retail, retail distribution agreements and several institutional mandates. Kairos is our one of the most renowned Italian asset management brands. The company is focusing on high-end retail and institutional clients. The company also has a selected team of bankers with over EUR 2 billion of assets. The company overall manages 6 billion of assets approximately in terms of assets under management and 1 billion of assets under administration. Finally, our, let's say, business, illiquid business, Anima Alternative and Castello SGR, with almost EUR 5 billion of assets.
This part of our group focuses on real estate and other illiquid or non-traditional asset classes, mainly focused, mainly aiming at the institutional business and high net worth individuals. Page four, the split of our assets. I don't have particular things to outline. The only thing is that the retail component increased a little bit its weight, 52% of the total, almost EUR 107 billion of assets over the total. Page five, our performance, in line with the Italian industry, notwithstanding, if you look at the right side of the page, a more conservative asset mix, as always. So I would say that our performance of the group overall has been absolutely positive and very good, I would say. Page six, the flows.
The decreasing trend of interest rates, even though there's no clear consensus on timing of cuts, and we know also that there are many geopolitical uncertainties. In any case, this brought the Q4 figure, reflecting a client appetite to shift from bond to our flexible solutions. As you can see, the flexible solution that includes also our targeted funds, and we'll get back to it, decreased the outflows, while the bond decreased the inflows. We are changing a little bit the mix of the product we are selling, and this could be absolutely beneficial for our profitability and for the business.
If you go to page seven and we look at where the profitability and where the inflows come from, we register EUR 3.7 billion of inflows in the most juicy asset classes: Fund UCITS , retail, and pension funds institutional mandates, while the outflows were concentrated on asset classes where the profitability is very close to zero or negligible or very close to zero, meaning the underlying funds of underlying funds. This we already talked about many times, about this part of our business. This is a wrapping component of our funds investing in our funds. As you know, according to the Italian regulation, we cannot duplicate fees. So this part of the business has a thin profitability, if not zero.
Class I insurance mandates, again, these are mainly, almost entirely linked to the Poste mandate, to the large Poste mandate we manage since seven years. This part of the business, the profitability again is below in the region of two basis points, 2.5. Page eight, instead, if you look at the retail inflows, this year are very strong. This is the strongest year since nine years, actually. We are very happy about that because the retail inflows is a significant qualitative indicator of the health of our business. The inflows comes from mainly from our commercial and strategic partner, banking partner. And this demonstrates also the interest from clients of our solutions and our product management.
I think that if you look a little bit ahead, the trend of decreasing interest rates will continue to provide a beneficial underlying ground for the development of our business in 2025. And actually, this is what is happening already in the first month of the year. If you look at our income statement, page nine, our P&L. So we already said something at the beginning, total revenues + 44%, year on year, 33% like for like, reaching EUR 530 million. Of course, we've an important component of performance fees, EUR 125 million approximately, if compared to less relevant numbers of last year. Adjusted EBITDA + 47%, if compared to 2023, reaching EUR 390 million. Net income + 53%, as I said at the beginning, EUR 228 million approximately.
Looking at the profitability on the right side of the page, we have been able, as we said, we already said during the year, we have been able, constantly to increase our profitability. This is mainly due to our, to the asset mix improvement, the pricing of new products that is higher on average if compared to the past, thanks to the, to the bond component that could be, that is, that we are able to price, in a better way if compared to, a few years ago, and of course, the average profitability is boosted by, the consolidation of Castello and Kairos. Castello full year. Kairos since the 2nd of May, 2024. The cost-income ratio remains at the top, also excluding performance fees at the top of the sector.
We register a little bit of increase if compared to previous year because of the consolidation again of Kairos and Castello that has a structure, cost income higher than the business managed by Anima historically. In terms of tax or taxation, 29.5%, the tax rate is influenced by the badwill income from Kairos, dividends, we are 4% tax rate and step-up of goodwill related to Castello acquisition. This has brought EUR 6.1 million of benefit in the year. Page 10, a little bit of bridge if you look for our net income. I would say that the major items are performance fees if compared to last year.
The EBITDA, the other EBITDA component, this is relevant because apart from performance fees that are of course more volatile and more difficult to be estimated, but the other EBITDA components are these, the current component, driven by a better work that we did on our capability to generate revenues and of course the increase of assets. Again, as a reminder, we in the year we are charging entirely the LTI for the management, that that of course vested because of the launch of the tender offer of BAMI and the company. So this is the full cost of the LTI and is all on 2024. Page 11, look, a little bit of analysis on the total revenues ex performance fees. Net recurring fees are growing faster thanks to the changing asset mix, as we already commented before.
The other income, two main elements, there is a structural increase for the entire 2024 following the internalization of some service rendered by on our mutual funds. And this is a very important element. In Q4, we also reflected the seasonality of the Castello business that typically has in the last part of the year an increase of fee restructuring fees. Page 12, personnel expenses, few comments. First of all, the Q4, the Q4 fixed component include a one year change related to the personnel welfare. This means that the increase in the fixed component is not an increase structural for all the quarter, but is a one off of the year. So basically the one, the increase of 1 million should be applied, should be considered for the entire year. Castello fixed component is impacted by the inclusion of Vita S.r.l.
Vita is a new company that bought Halldis and is an instrumental company for the business of Castello. And the variable component, of course, is impacted by the performance by the very high level of performance fees. Page 13, net financial position. The net financial position, of course, includes the almost EUR 80 million of dividend paid in May, last May, EUR 40 million of shares buyback, and the increase of the put/call options after Castello acquisition of the Halldis business that I just mentioned. This is a business of managing short-term rentals. Within the net financial position is also included our stake, the stake we bought in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, including incorporating a significant capital gain. Page 14, liquidity, couple of comments. Return on liquidity is driven by deposit and investments on our in-own funds.
In Q4, the liquidity decreased, of course, because we invested 200, almost EUR 220 million euros to acquire a 3%, 3% stake in Monte Paschi. This is likely depressing the return on liquidity in the short term, but will secure significant dividend from 2025 onwards. Page 15, dividend proposal. The dividend proposed to the, that we will propose to the AGM is 0.45 + 80% if compared to last year. This dividend, well, is very important. I think that confirm the capability of the company to generate cash and to provide return to shareholders. Just to remind you that, this year we will, the share buyback, actually the, the share that we have, in hand will not be canceled, but will be used to, for the LTI, for the vesting of the LTI.
On top of that, we will also have to issue EUR 5.9 million euros of new shares, always in the form of shares, you know, in order to serve the LTI. So the shares to serve the LTI are 5.9 million + 9.4 million of treasury shares. Banco BPM Vita offer, page 16. As we said before, Banco BPM Vita launched a voluntary public tender offer on Anima on the 6th of November. We expect regulatory authorizations by the end of February. Antitrust and Golden Power were already cleared. Always in terms of process, the board of Anima will express itself right after the authorization and right after the [Foreign language] of Consob expected by the beginning of March, of course, if the authorities will provide the clearance within the expected timing.
important elements of the offer, the offer is subject to some element, the possibility to reach by Banco BPM Vita of 63.7% of the share capital of Anima, the application of the Danish compromise to the acquisition by the ECB, and of course the price. On top of the Anima, just as a reminder, after the launch of this tender offer, an offer was launched by UniCredit on Bami. Bami today is subject itself to the passivity rule, due to the pending of this public tender offer. As a consequence, in the absence of a waiver of UniCredit, only Bami AGM can make amendment to the price of the condition to the offer of Anima Holding. On Anima Holding. To conclude, I just would like to outline a few elements of Anima in these years.
I think this is a very important period, a very important moment in the history of the company. We are under a tender offer. I think that we are in the center of several potential development. I think that Anima is here because it did very well in the last 10 years, in the last 15 years, I would say. This is a project that started when the Bank of Italy encouraged the banks to externalize product factories. Anima has been able to offer solutions and to create long-lasting and successful partnerships. We demonstrate strength and resilience throughout different economic cycles, different market periods. I mean, we went through 2011, 2018, COVID, and so on and so forth.
We've been able to raise money consistently during these years and always to provide and to generate profitability, to increase our profitability at the level of the company in a period where profitability for the sector was shrinking continuously. So I think that we demonstrated that we know how to stay on the market and we know how to do this business. We have also been able to diversify the business in the last years. We bought Castello, we bought Kairos. Overall, I think that Anima provided significant value to all the financial institutions that have been working with us, et cetera, and created shareholding relationship with strategic partners. That, as I said at the beginning, position Anima today as a value for all the company that are looking at the sector and that want to develop.
Thank you very much for attending and
thank you, Alessandro. Just before we move to the Q&A session, I would like to add a preliminary note, as Alessandro mentioned and you are all well aware about, that we are under a tender offer. We are currently restricted from making any comment on the contents or the outcome or the possible changes in the offer. So we, on that topic, we will have to limit ourselves to factual information so we can maybe help you clarify any doubts about the sequence of events that are prescribed by law, about what we can or we cannot do right now. But please be aware and we hope in your comprehension; we cannot make any forward-looking or qualitative comments on the offer because this will belong to the board after the final prospectus is published.
So with this in mind, I would ask the operator to please give the floor to your questions and we are here to answer.
Thank you to the speakers today. We now have an opportunity for questions. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please use the raise hand function on your screen or for those dialing in, it's star nine on your keypad. Once your name is announced, please unmute your line and say your company name before asking your question. Thank you. The first question we have today comes from Luigi De Bellis. His question is, what is the trend of flows in January and expectations for Q1 2025, both institutional and retail? His second question is, could we see some performance fees in Q1 2025 to help with the top line?
Okay, Luigi , well, Q1 performance fees, let's say, we didn't start particularly well, actually. The market did not too bad, but I would say that we expect. I expect the level of performance fees to be lower than 2024 and 2025 as of today. Of course, this is a very volatile item, you know, of course, you know it. Let's see if flows 2025. I have to confirm what I said before, that the trend is positive, is absolutely positive because we are seeing that the flows on the retail are doing well. So the trend on the retail is absolutely positive. People want to invest. The networks are pushing on commission, so they like to sell the product. So I think that all the environment is absolutely benign and favorable.
Thank you for these questions. Currently, we do not have any questions queued, so we'll wait just a few moments.
Thank you, Rebecca. And while we wait, of course, we will not leave you without the January net inflows. They will be probably out reasonably one of the next days. And we will do some tweaking to the presentation format to make it clearer for the joy of many investors. Please go ahead with the Q&A.
Thank you, Luca. We now have a question from Alberto Villa. Please, Alberto, the floor to you.
Okay, can you hear me now?
Yes.
Yes, we can.
Okay, thank you for taking my questions. I wanted to ask you about the fact that you have the stake in Monte Paschi in the net financial position.
Can you give us an idea of what was the impact on the year-end net financial position of the stake? And if you plan to keep it in the net financial position in the future or maybe move it to assets. Then the second question is maybe some color on the trends in retail. If there is any, I know that you refrain from commenting about the single net partners, et cetera, but maybe any color you can add on the flows you're getting from the retail could be helpful to understand, also maybe and to try to model for the future. Thank you.
Okay, [Foreign language] Alberto. Well, for what concerns BMPS, the value within the NFP, the year-end NFP is approximately 340 million EUR. We have a capital gain of 80 million EUR.
The strategy on the stake comes from the fact that this is a strategic investment for us, as it was the first 25 million EUR invested in the capital increase at the time. So Monte Paschi for us is a key strategic partner. He is one of the founders of this company, of this project. So it is very important for us to keep the strongest relationship as possible. And the stake today we bought the stake in this respect and with this idea. So, as of today, the stake remains as a strategic stake that we keep. Actually, we also hope and we expect the stake to generate important returns, given the performance of the bank, so we are happy about that. And, as of today, the strategy, the stake is strategic.
On flows, more color, I mean, all the networks are performing very well. Of course, Monte Paschi and Bami are performing far better in absolute terms because they are the largest, they are doing very well. But when we see, typically when we look at our huge range of partners and we see that all the partners, larger and smaller, are performing very well, this is a trend like last year. So I believe that there is a positive trend in the market, a favorable trend for the sector and for our asset management products. So I think that we are going in the right direction. I can't give you a number yet, but I think that Luca will probably be out with the numbers.
Within this week.
Yeah, within the week.
Thank you, Alberto, for this question. Currently, we do not have any questions queued, so we will wait just a few moments. As there are no further questions, I will now hand the word back to the speakers for any final comments before bringing this presentation to a close. Thank you.
We would like to take the chance to thank everyone once more for attending. There's been, I would say a record attendance despite the low number of questions. Of course, IR remains available for any follow-ups from those who attended the call and for those who will listen to a recording. And except for that, our next appointment is for the first quarter results due May the 6th, 2025. What an exciting year. Goodbye, everyone.
Thank you very much and goodbye, everybody.