Why L1 Group (ASX:L1G) leans on gold and long-short funds as the Platinum business shrinks

Sonal Goyal

03 November 2026 09:09 PM AEDT

Why L1 Group (ASX:L1G) leans on gold and long-short funds as the Platinum business shrinks

Image Source: Shutterstock

You are reading a free article with opinions that may differ from the recommendation given by Kalkine in its paid research reports. Become a Kalkine member today to get access to our research reports, in-depth technical and fundamental research. Learn more

Start Your Free Trial Now!

Key Highlights

FY26 underlying NPAT of A$188.8 million, up from A$96.1 million pro forma, boosted by A$165.7 million in performance fees.
L1 Capital now manages about 73% of group funds under management, up from 55% at the time of the October 2025 Merger with Platinum Asset Management.
L1 Gold returned 83.2% and L1 Long Short returned 45.4% in FY26; past returns do not guarantee future results.
FY26 total ordinary Dividend of 3.0 cents per share, fully franked, comprising a 1.0 cent interim and a 2.0 cent final payment.

L1 Group (ASX:L1G) is reshaping itself as an active Fund Manager around L1 Capital's long-short and gold strategies, a year after merging with Platinum Asset Management. The FY26 numbers show how much a single performance fee can lift earnings, while the latest fund flows show the older Platinum Business still shrinking.

A merged manager

L1 Group is a Financials-sector fund manager that describes itself as specialising in investing in global equities. It is included in the S&P/ASX 300, S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries and S&P/ASX All Ordinaries indices, according to the ASX company data.

Platinum Asset Management and L1 Capital merged on 1 October 2025. L1 Capital and its affiliates now manage about 73 per cent of group funds, up from 55 per cent when the merger was implemented. It had 2,566,551,484 ordinary shares on issue. Alongside ordinary shares, the group has a Z Class, which accounts for a large part of statutory profit but is not attributable to ordinary shareholders.

What FY26 delivered

For the year to 30 June 2026 the company reported underlying fee-related Revenue and other income of A$385.9 million, compared with a pro forma A$259.0 million a year earlier. Underlying EBITDA reached A$287.4 million, against A$142.4 million, and underlying net profit after tax was A$188.8 million, up from A$96.1 million.

Statutory net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders was A$145.2 million, or 6.38 cents a share on a basic basis. Of total profit after tax of A$542.2 million, A$395.2 million belonged to Z Class holders.

Performance fees were A$165.7 million on a pro forma basis. They included a one-off A$79.2 million, reported elsewhere as A$79.3 million, from closing the unlisted L1 Wholesale Gold Fund.

Performance fees depend on beating benchmarks and market conditions, so profit that includes a one-off item is a weaker guide to future Earnings than recurring management fees.

Funds under management

The company reported FY26 Investment returns of 83.2 per cent for L1 Gold and 45.4 per cent for L1 Long Short; past returns do not guarantee future results.

Closing funds under management were A$19.1 billion at 30 June 2026, from A$16.3 billion a year earlier. In an unaudited update, the figure was A$19.31 billion at 30 September 2026, up A$251 million over the quarter.

The detail is mixed. L1 Gold rose A$573 million to A$1.41 billion, helped by a A$375 million capital raising in September, and the L1 Long Short strategies added A$459 million. But Other Platinum fell A$667 million and Platinum strategies saw net outflows of A$173 million, down from A$308 million in the June quarter.

Balance sheet, costs and dividends

The group is debt-free, with A$635 million of cash and seed investments. L1 Gold Fund Limited (ASX:LGF) listed in April 2026 and added about A$950 million to funds under management.

Operating expenses fell to A$98.5 million from A$116.6 million. Realised synergies were A$31.7 million, with the target lifted from A$35 million to A$43 million. FY27 operating expenses are guided to about A$95 million.

Total FY26 dividends were 3.0 cents per share, fully franked: a 1.0 cent interim in March and a 2.0 cent final paid on 23 September 2026.

On 12 October 2026 the group announced a conditional sale of Platinum Investment Management Limited to EQT Holdings (ASX:EQT) for nominal consideration, which it does not expect to have a material financial impact.

Risks and what comes next

Earnings rest on markets and investment performance. The Annual Report notes that the Platinum International strategy suffered in a narrow, large-cap technology rally. Leadership change, including a new chief financial officer, and integration work add execution risk.

The next signals are the next quarterly funds update, completion of the EQT transaction, and the half-year result, for which no date has been announced.

Word count (article body only, recounted by script; excludes headline, subheadings, sources and publishing notes): 600

This article provides general information only and does not constitute personal financial advice.

Sources

1. ASX / L1 Group — ASX company header and about data - L1 Group (2026-11-03) [primary]: https://asx.api.markitdigital.com/asx-research/1.0/companies/L1G/about

2. ASX / L1 Group — L1G FY26 ASX Results Announcement (2026-08-16) [primary]: https://cdn-api.markitdigital.com/apiman-gateway/ASX/asx-research/1.0/file/2924-03121600-2A1689736?access_token=83ff96335c2d45a094df02a206a39ff4

3. ASX / L1 Group — L1G Appendix 4E and FY26 Annual Report (2026-08-16) [primary]: https://cdn-api.markitdigital.com/apiman-gateway/ASX/asx-research/1.0/file/2924-03121546-2A1689731?access_token=83ff96335c2d45a094df02a206a39ff4

4. ASX / L1 Group — Funds under management - September 2026 (2026-10-13) [primary]: https://cdn-api.markitdigital.com/apiman-gateway/ASX/asx-research/1.0/file/2924-03148095-3A704050?access_token=83ff96335c2d45a094df02a206a39ff4

5. ASX / L1 Group — Change of Responsible Entity of Platinum Funds (2026-10-11) [primary]: https://cdn-api.markitdigital.com/apiman-gateway/ASX/asx-research/1.0/file/2924-03146951-3A703827?access_token=83ff96335c2d45a094df02a206a39ff4

6. ASX / L1 Group — L1G Appendix 3A.1 - Notification of Dividend/Distribution (2026-08-16) [primary]: https://cdn-api.markitdigital.com/apiman-gateway/ASX/asx-research/1.0/file/2924-03121599-2A1689735?access_token=83ff96335c2d45a094df02a206a39ff4

Research date: 3 November 2026

Feature image

Image brief: Generic Sydney or Melbourne financial district skyline, or abstract line chart of funds under management; no logos or fund performance claims.

Alt text: City financial district skyline at dusk with office towers

Caption: L1 Group, formed from the merger of L1 Capital and Platinum Asset Management, is an ASX-listed fund manager.

Recommended specification: High-quality landscape image at least 1280 × 720 pixels (16:9 works well, 1200 px or wider). Use an image the publisher owns or has licensed; do not use a logo-only or text-only graphic.

Publisher note

Indexing: make sure the page is crawlable and indexable (no noindex, not blocked in robots.txt) and appears in the news or XML sitemap with its true publication and modification dates.

Mobile readability: check the page on a phone — legible type, short paragraphs, no intrusive interstitials and stable layout while loading.

Large image preview: allow large previews with the robots meta tag max-image-preview:large (or the equivalent HTTP header) so the feature image can be shown at full size.

Social image: set og:image to a representative, high-resolution version of the feature image that matches the article content.

Authorship: publish with a real byline, author page and publication date. Discover Placement cannot be guaranteed; these steps only make the article eligible.

Verification notes

Status: Completed

Listing: ASX: L1G — Quoted

Verified index membership: S&P/ASX 300; S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries; S&P/ASX All Ordinaries

Dividends / distributions: FY26 total 3.0 cps fully franked: 1.0c interim (March 2026) and 2.0c final (ex 1 Sep, record 2 Sep, paid 23 Sep 2026), per Appendix 4E/3A.1. Not the focus of the article.

Editor notes: Performance fee one-off quoted A$79.3m in results announcement and A$79.2m in annual report; article notes both. Annual report truncated before final ~16k chars. Z Class structure only briefly described (not fully read). CSV P/E, Yield not used. Dates of announcements are UTC.

Download Free Report – Explore 3 Stock Ideas & Industry Insights

Unlock 3 stock ideas and key industry insights in our free report. This information is general in nature and does not consider your personal objectives, financial situation, or needs. It is not financial advice.

All investments involve risk—consider independent advice before making any investment decisions.

View 3 Research Reports

Disclaimer:

This article (“Article”) has been prepared by Kalkine Pty Limited (ABN 34 154 808 312) (Australian financial services licence number 425376) (“Kalkine”) and its related bodies corporate who are authorised to provide general financial product advice. Kalkine.com.au and its associated pages are published by Kalkine.

Any information/advice provided in this article is general in nature and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should therefore consider whether the information is appropriate for your objectives, financial situation and needs before acting upon it.

There may be a Product Disclosure Statement, Information Memorandum or other offer document (“Offer Document”) for the securities or other financial products referred to in Kalkine articles. You should obtain a copy of the Offer Document and consider it before making any decision about whether to acquire the security or financial product.

Kalkine strongly recommends that you seek advice from a financial adviser, stockbroker or other professional (including taxation and legal advice) before acting on any advice/information in this Article or on the Kalkine website. Not all investments are appropriate for all people.

The information in this Article and on Kalkine website has been prepared from a wide variety of sources, which Kalkine, to the best of its knowledge and belief, considers accurate. Kalkine has made every effort to ensure the reliability of the information contained in its articles (including this Article), newsletters and websites. All information represents our views at the date of publication and may change without notice.

The information in this Article does not constitute an offer to sell securities or other financial products or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities or other financial products.

Kalkine does not issue, sell or deal in any financial products.

This Article may contain information on past performance of particular investments. Please note past performance is neither an indicator nor a guarantee of future performance.

To the extent permitted by law, and excluding any dishonesty or gross negligence by Kalkine, Kalkine disclaims and excludes all liability for any direct, indirect, implied, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential loss or damage arising from the use of or reliance on this Article, the Kalkine website and any information published on the Kalkine website without any warranties or representations by Kalkine to you. To the extent the law prohibits or limits this exclusion, Kalkine limits its liability to the resupply of services.

Please also read our Terms & Conditions and Financial Services Guide for further information.

Employees and/or associates of Kalkine and its related entities may hold interests in the securities or other financial products covered in this Article or on the Kalkine website. Any such employees and associates are required to comply with certain safeguards, procedures and disclosures as required by law.

Some of the images/music that may be used in the Article are copyright to their respective owner(s). Kalkine does not claim ownership of any of the pictures displayed/music used in the Article unless stated otherwise. The images/music that may be used in the Article are taken from various sources on the internet, including paid subscriptions or are believed to be in public domain. We have used reasonable efforts to accredit the source wherever it was indicated or was found to be necessary.

Kalkine Media Pty Ltd, an affiliate of Kalkine Pty Ltd, may have received, or be entitled to receive, financial consideration in connection with providing information about certain entity(s) covered on its website.