JHG Janus Henderson Group Plc

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020 and 2019,
AND FOR THE YEAR ENDED december 31, 2020 

Janus 401(k) and Employee Stock Ownership Plan (the “Plan”) is a defined contribution plan subject to the provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”).

The following brief description of the Plan is for general information purposes only. Participants should refer to the Plan agreement for a more complete description of the Plan’s provisions.

Eligibility — Substantially all U.S. based employees of Janus Henderson Group plc (“JHG”, the “Company” or the “Sponsor”) and affiliated employers who have adopted the Plan are eligible to participate in the Plan beginning on their date of employment.

Contributions — The Plan consists of a Roth 401(k) and a 401(k) component. Participants may contribute up to 75% of their annual compensation, as defined in the Plan, subject to certain limitations as set forth by the IRS. Participants may also contribute up to 25% of their annual base salary in after-tax contributions. Participants direct the investment of their contributions into various registered mutual funds offered by the Plan. Participants may also direct their investments through a trustee sponsored brokerage account.

The Sponsor contributes to the 401(k) portion of the Plan a matching contribution equal to 100% of each participant’s eligible contribution up to 5% of the participant’s compensation. Employees that work at least 1,000 hours during the year and remain employed on the last day of the Plan year are also eligible for an annual discretionary contribution to the Plan. The Sponsor contributions to the profit sharing portion are invested based on the direction of the participant. Contributions to the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (“ESOP”) are invested directly in JHG common stock. After three years of service, employees may transfer 100% of their ESOP balance and any future contributions to participant-directed investments. Contributions are subject to certain limitations.

Participants can reinvest dividends earned on JHG common stock to purchase additional shares of JHG common stock or elect to receive dividends in cash.

A participant who is age 50 or older may make catch-up deferral contributions of $6,500 in 2020.

Participants may also contribute amounts representing distributions from other qualified defined benefit or defined contribution plans. Contributions are subject to certain Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) limitations.

Participant Accounts — Individual accounts are maintained for each Plan participant. Each participant’s account is credited with the participant’s contributions, the Sponsor’s contributions and may also include an allocation of Plan earnings and participant forfeitures. Plan losses, withdrawal fees and administrative expenses may be charged to participant’s accounts. Allocations are based on account balances, as defined in the Plan. The benefit to which a participant is entitled is the benefit that can be provided from the participant’s account.

Vesting — Participants are always 100% vested in their own contributions. Vesting in discretionary employer contributions, discretionary ESOP stock bonus contributions and in employer matching contributions are based on years of service with JHG or a subsidiary of JHG. Participants earn one year of service for each calendar year that they work at least 1,000 hours and the vesting percentage for the majority of participants is calculated as follows:

A participant becomes 100% vested in all contributions if employed when the participant reaches normal retirement date (age 65), loses his or her job due to job elimination (as defined by the Plan), or leaves employment due to disability (as defined by the Plan) or death, even if the participant has not yet completed five years of service.

Distribution of Benefits — Distributions generally will be made in the event of retirement, death, disability, resignation, or dismissal. The Plan also provides for early distribution at age 59 1/2 in specific circumstances.

Distributions after termination of employment are made in a lump-sum payment in an amount equal to the value of the participant’s vested interest in his or her account. Terminated participants with an account balance of $1,000 or less are paid a lump-sum distribution without the request or approval of the participant. Balances exceeding $1,000 are paid upon the distribution date elected by the participant, but no later than April 1 of the calendar year following the calendar year in which the age of 70 1/2 is attained.

Distributions may also be made in the event of the financial hardship of the participant, as defined in the Plan.

Notes Receivable from Participants — Participants may only have one loan outstanding at any given time and may borrow an aggregate amount of $50,000 or 50% of their account balance, whichever is less. The loans are secured by the balance in the participant’s account and bear interest at the prime rate plus 1%. Principal and interest are paid ratably through payroll deductions.

Trustee and Recordkeeper — Fidelity Management Trust Company (“Fidelity”) holds and administers all assets of the Plan in accordance with the provisions of the Plan agreement.

Administration of the Plan — The Sponsor has appointed an Advisory Committee to serve as fiduciary with the authority and responsibility to administer the Plan.

Plan Termination — Although it has not expressed any intent to do so, the Sponsor has the right under the Plan to discontinue its contributions at any time and to terminate the Plan subject to the provisions of ERISA. In the event of Plan termination or partial termination, participants will become 100% vested.

Forfeitures — When certain terminations of participation in the Plan occur, the nonvested portion of the participant’s account, as defined by the Plan, represents a forfeiture. Nonvested profit sharing, ESOP and employer matching contributions amounts forfeited by employees are first applied against Plan administration expenses. Any forfeiture amounts remaining after Plan expenses have been paid will be applied against any employer contribution obligation. Should the forfeiture amounts exceed Plan expenses and the Sponsor’s contribution obligations, the excess amount will be allocated to the other participants as a part of and in the same manner as the Sponsor’s contributions for the Plan year in which the forfeitures occurred. During 2020, forfeited amounts applied against Plan expenses totaled $165,959. There were $38,408 of forfeitures applied against employer contributions for the year ended December 31, 2020. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, forfeited nonvested accounts totaled $22,336 and $15,020, respectively.

Basis of Accounting — The accompanying financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”).

Use of Estimates — The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities and changes in net assets available for benefits. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Risks and Uncertainties — The Plan provides for various investment options as set forth in the Plan agreement. Investment securities are exposed to various risks such as interest rate, market, concentration and credit risks. Due to the level of risk associated with certain investment securities, it is at least reasonably possible that changes could materially affect participant account balances and the amounts reported in the statements of net assets available for benefits. Approximately 4% of net assets available for benefits as of December 31, 2020 and 2019 were invested in JHG common stock, representing the ESOP portion of the Plan.

COVID-19

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) a pandemic. COVID-19 continues to have a significant impact on the global economy primarily through preventive measures taken by businesses and governments to restrict its spread. The extent of the impact of COVID-19 on the Plan's net assets available for benefits also depends on future developments, including the duration of the pandemic and the volatility of the global financial markets, all of which are highly uncertain.

The CARES Act

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was passed on March 27, 2020. The 401(k) Advisory Committee adopted the following changes to the Janus 401(k) and Employee Stock Ownership Plan in April 2020 for participants impacted by COVID-19:

The Janus 401(k) and Employee Stock Ownership Plan will amend the Plan by December 31, 2022 (the deadline for retroactive plan amendments).

Investment Valuation and Income Recognition — The Plan’s investments are stated at fair value. Fair value of a financial instrument is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Shares of mutual funds and money market funds are valued at quoted market prices, which represent the net asset value of shares held by the Plan at year-end. Common stock is valued at quoted market prices. Purchases and sales of securities are recorded on a trade-date basis. Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis. Dividends are recorded on the ex-dividend date. Net appreciation includes the Plan’s gains and losses on investments bought and sold as well as held during the year.

Management fees and operating expenses charged to the Plan for investments in the mutual funds are deducted from income earned on a daily basis and are not separately reflected. Consequently, management fees and operating expenses are reflected as a reduction of investment return for such investments.

Notes Receivable from Participants — Notes receivable from participants are measured at their unpaid principal balance plus any accrued interest. Delinquent participant loans are recorded as distributions based on the terms of the Plan agreement. Notes receivable from participants have various maturity dates and interest rates ranging from 2021 to 2034 and 4.25% to 9.25%, respectively.

Administrative Expenses — Plan expenses include loan, distribution and administration fees paid to Fidelity. Other plan expenses include audit, legal and advisory fees. Nonvested profit sharing and ESOP amounts forfeited by employees are used to pay administration fees. Loan and distribution fees are charged against individual participant accounts. The Plan Sponsor may at its sole discretion, but is not obligated to, pay Plan expenses. Unless paid by the Plan Sponsor, such costs and expenses are charged against Plan assets at the participant account level and deducted by the trustee. Administrative fees paid to Fidelity may be reduced to the extent Plan assets are invested in certain Fidelity and non Fidelity investment products. Plan expenses were reduced by $39,364 in 2020 as a result of such investment.

Payment of Benefits — Benefit payments to participants are recorded upon distribution. There were no participants who have elected to withdraw from the Plan, but have not yet been paid, as of December 31, 2020 and 2019.

Contributions — Contributions are recognized in the year to which they relate.

Income Tax Status — The IRS has determined and informed the Company by a letter dated October 14, 2014, that the Plan was designed in accordance with the applicable regulations of the IRC requirements. The Plan Sponsor believes the Plan has maintained its tax-exempt status. Therefore, no provision for income taxes has been included in the Plan’s financial statements. The Plan was last amended on December 28, 2017 for an administrative matter. The amendment was not impactful to the Plan’s tax-exempt status.

Subsequent Events — Subsequent events were evaluated through the date the financial statements were available to be issued.

Measurements of fair value are classified in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The Plan classifies its investments into Level 1, which refers to securities valued using quoted prices from active markets for identical assets; Level 2, which refers to securities not traded on an active market but for which observable market inputs are readily available; and Level 3, which refers to securities valued based on significant unobservable inputs. The Plan’s policy is to recognize significant transfers between levels at the end of the reporting period. The following tables set forth by level within the fair value hierarchy a summary of the Plan’s investments measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2020 and 2019.

Information about the net assets and the significant components of the changes in net assets relating to the nonparticipant-directed investments for the year ended December 31, 2020, are as follows:

Certain Plan investments are shares of mutual funds managed by JHG and mutual funds and brokerage accounts managed by Fidelity. Certain Plan expenses include loan, distribution and administrative fees paid to Fidelity. JHG is the sponsoring employer of the Plan and Fidelity is the trustee and, therefore, these transactions qualify as exempt party-in-interest transactions.

In addition to mutual funds managed by JHG, the Plan also holds JHG common stock. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Plan held 545,094 and 577,667 shares of JHG common stock with a cost basis of $13,999,111 and $14,856,797, respectively. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Plan recorded dividend income attributable to JHG common stock of $799,922.

Certain employees of JHG perform administrative work and financial reporting for the Plan and are not compensated by the Plan.

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SUPPLEMENTAL SCHEDULE