River & Mercantile has seen £81m of net inflows in its retail equities business through the second half of 2016 with its chief executive welcoming a return to value investing.
The business as a whole saw £2bn of net sales between July and December 2016 with majority of this coming in its institutional derivatives business.
However, its retail equities business saw a turnaround particularly in the final quarter, according to chief executive Mike Faulkner. The firm did see £183m of net sales in the 12 months to June 30, but at the time Mr Faulkner warned investors of a difficult period for the remainder of the year.
"I have never been happier than now that the risks about which I was concerned six months ago seem not to have come to pass. The business has caught its stride," he said.
Mr Faulkner praised the fact retail investors were now turning attention to value equities, the dominant offering from the firm in the space.
"This is positive for us and is testament obviously to the hard work over a long period of time from [UK and global value manager] Hugh Sergeant and his team in portfolio management," he said.
As a result of renewed inflows and performance, assets under management in retail equities rose to £1.5bn, from £1.2bn at the end of June.
Similarly, the second six months of 2016 proved useful for the firm's performance fee revenue. R&M earned £4.7m in performance-related fees in the second half, across all its businesses, up from £0.3m in the first half and £1.2m in the corresponding period in 2015.
Overall, management fees rose 13 per cent from the first half up to £21.4m due to continued growth in assets under management.
