Business from financial advisers boosted the assets under management of Rathbones in what was an otherwise tough period for the company.
In a market update issued by Rathbones this morning (January 9), the company said of its £43bn in assets in its investment management business at the end of 2019 - an increase of 11.7 per cent on the previous year - £8.7bn was from advisers - an increase of £1.2bn on the previous year.
Overall, investors pulled £327m from Rathbones's investment management arm in the final three months of 2019, leading to net outflows of £351m for the year.
Rathbones said the outflows were mostly from "low margin" clients of the Spiers & Jeffrey advice business as well as pension fund mandates, which also tend to be less profitable for investment managers.
Rathbones bought Spiers & Jeffrey in 2018.
In the results statement, the company said: "The last quarter of 2019 saw the exit of some lower margin mandates following the integration of Speirs & Jeffrey and additional outflows as some pension and other institutional mandates were repositioned by trustees."
The performance of the unit trust business was much stronger, with net inflows of £294m in the three month period and £943m for 2019. These figures will also include some cash placed by advisers, but it is not broken down within the figures provided.
Overall, the company had net outflows of £33m in the three month period, but positive market movements meant its total assets under management rose by 17 per cent during 2019 to £50.4bn, with £7.4bn of that being within the funds business.
The company said it expects volatility to persist in the markets in the months ahead.
david.thorpe@ft.com
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