LONDON: Asset manager Henderson said on Wednesday that underlying profit rose 13 percent last year, beating analysts' expectations, and assets under management rose 8 percent.

Underlying pretax profit from continuing operations rose to 187.8 million pounds ($291.17 million), Henderson said in a trading statement, against expectations for 180.6 million, according to a poll provided by the company.

Assets under management at Dec 31 were 81.2 billion pounds, compared with 80.6 billion pounds forecast, with net inflows for the year of 7.1 billion pounds.

Henderson said it would pay a final dividend of 6.4 pence per share and a total dividend of 9 pence.

Copyright Reuters, 2015