The assets under administration of the Nucleus platform rose by £444m in the final quarter of 2019, aided mainly by positive market movements.
Net inflows were £153m, while market movements contributed £291m.
Net inflows in the three months to the end of December were the highest quarterly inflows the company has seen in a year.
On a twelve month basis, the company had net inflows of £509m, and positive market movements contributed £1.7bn.
The total assets under administration for the platform at the end of December was £16.1bn.
The number of advisers using the platform was 1,442 at the end of 2019, a 3.3 per cent increase on the previous year, with a combined 96,857 customers.
The company’s founder and chief executive David Ferguson said in October 2019 that one of the drags on growth in assets for his platform was consolidation in the advice market, as this had lead to some advice firms leaving Nucleus and joining the platform of the firm that is being acquired.
Commenting on the state of the business in the latest trading update he said: “We’re really pleased with the 16.3 per cent increase in AUA over the last twelve months and, in particular, to post a fourth successive quarter of gross inflow growth, especially against the backdrop of investor uncertainty during most of 2019.
"It was especially pleasing to see net inflows improve in the last quarter – these had held steady across Q2 and Q3 but increased by 37.8 per cent in Q4. While still early days, this positive momentum has continued into the new year and we feel well-positioned to build on this."
He added: "Q4 saw further significant investment in the business with new functionality that allows the placing of multiple trade instructions at the same time, a process our users tell us will save considerable processing time.
"Further enhancements included improved bulk switching capability, enabling more efficient adviser performance, and the successful live testing of new telephony infrastructure. Each of these enhancements has resulted in improved service delivery, engagement with users and resilience.”
david.thorpe@ft.com
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