Frost & Sullivan Recognizes NLB Skladi for its Robust and Rapid Market Share Increase in the Slovenian Asset Management Market

LONDON, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent research on the asset management market, Frost & Sullivan presents NLB Skladi, upravljanje premozenja, d.o.o. (NLB Skladi) with the 2009 Slovenia Frost & Sullivan Award for Market Penetration Leadership. NLB Skladi is the third largest in total assets under management, second largest in assets under management if only non-privatization funds are taken into account and is first in terms of net inflows in NLB Skladi mutual funds since 2004. Market shares mentioned exclude funds of privatization origin.

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The asset management industry in Slovenia is relatively small since most of the savings in the country are parked in bank deposits and the product line of mutual funds has not developed yet. Funds such as money market, fixed income and balanced funds are generally not preferred and creating market awareness still remains a major challenge. Aggressive marketing strategies, as a part of the market penetration strategy, help in creating market awareness and providing investor education. The launch of various new products in order to outperform the competitors and gain the first mover advantage helps in increasing the product line and depth in the industry. This, in turn, helps in market development within Slovenia.

"Aggressive media campaigns have helped NLB Skladi maintain its market presence and reach out to the investors," says Frost & Sullivan research analyst Kavitha Chakravarthy. "NLB Skladi conducts regular expert talk shows to educate investors about the various investment products and also utilizes various marketing channels such as newspapers and television for publicity."

Since its inception in 2004, the company's market share increased from 0.0 percent (in January 2004) to 17.5 percent in October 2009. The market share in the past three years (December 31, 2006 to October 31, 2009) rose from 9.6 percent to 17.5 percent. This has enabled NLB Skladi to rise from seventh position in the Slovenian asset management industry ranking in 2004 to be one among the top three asset management companies by the end of October 2009.

This tremendous growth can be attributed to NLB Skladi's funds that have been leading performers in the various mutual fund asset classes. The leading performing funds in the equity funds segment are NLB Skladi – Globalni delniski and NLB Skladi – Visoko rastoca gospodarstva delniski in terms of assets under management and past annual returns respectively as of October 2009. The leading performing funds overall are NLB Skladi – Kombinirani Globalni and NLB Skladi – Visoko rastoca gospodarstva delniski in terms of assets under management and past annual returns respectively as of October 2009.

"NLB Skladi has maintained a conservative approach and did not launch complex products based on derivatives, emerging market growth stories and complex quantitative techniques," observes Chakravarthy. "This strategy has paid-off for the company during times of financial crisis."

NLB Skladi could effectively expand its market share from 9.6 percent in December 2006 to 15.6 percent by the end of 2008. Its market share was 17.5 percent at the end of October 2009. In short, it has not incurred losses in the ongoing financial crisis and did not resort to employee retrenchment. On the other hand, the company has expanded its operations by hiring new employees.

Further, NLB Skladi has been successful in keeping its expense ratio lower than the industry average, thereby increasing the value provided to its customer. The average expense ratio of NLB Skladi funds from July 2008 to June 2009 was 2.25 percent as against an industry average of 2.49 percent during the same period. The average expense ratio of NLB Skladi's equity funds in the period starting July 2008 to June 2009 was 2.42 percent as against an industry average of 2.71 percent during the same period. The expense ratio of NLB Skladi's bond fund in the period starting July 2008 to June 2009 was 1.17 percent as against an industry average of 1.61 percent during the same period. The average expense ratio of NLB Skladi's balanced funds in the period starting July 2008 to June 2009 was 1.91 percent as against an industry average of 2.11 percent during the same period.

For these achievements, NLB Skladi is the deserving recipient of the 2009 Slovenia Frost & Sullivan Award for Market Penetration Leadership for asset management. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to a company that has demonstrated excellence in capturing the fastest measured rate of change of market share within its industry. The award recognizes how fast a company increases its penetration of a market, in terms of revenues or units as specified.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About NLB Skladi

NLB Skladi is 100 percent owned by Nova Ljubljanska banka d.d., Ljubljana, the largest and one of the leading banks in Slovenia. The company commenced its business operations on January 1, 2004 and began offering mutual fund in May 2004. NLB Skladi is one of the three leading asset management companies in Slovenia.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.awards.frost.com.

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan

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