Old Mutual Wealth has swung into profit as strong investment returns saw its performance fees increase, but losses at the company's advice network Intrinsic have grown.
The company made a post-tax profit of £42m in the first half of 2017, compared with a loss of £23m in the same period last year.
Strong performances among its investment funds meant the company pocketed £17m in performance fees, which were nil in the same period in 2016.
Funds under management increased by 10 per cent to £127.3bn and gross sales increased by 34 per cent to £14.1bn.
Paul Feeney, the chief executive of Old Mutual Wealth, said: “Pleasingly, we have seen continued recognition of the strength and, we believe, the value of our integrated business model.
“Integrated flows rose substantially from £700m to £2.2bn for the six months to 30 June 2017.
“One of our strongest performance areas was our multi-asset solutions business, which is part of Old Mutual Global Investors, which saw impressive growth in net flows to £1.6bn.”
Mr Feeney added that he was especially pleased with the performance of Old Mutual Wealth platform, which saw net client cash flows of £2.1bn, up 50 per cent.
The platform’s profit was up 40 per cent to £20m, largely driven by increased FUM.
Earlier this year Old Mutual Wealth ditched technology provider IFDS after it ran into problems with its platform upgrade.
It instead signed a deal with FNZ, which powers a number of major platforms, including Standard Life’s Wrap and Elevate.
This morning (11 August) Old Mutual Wealth stated it expected a new platform to be operational by late 2018 or early 2019, with migration from its current one following shortly afterward.
The company added that all aspects of the contract with IFDS have now been concluded and final costs associated with this have reached £332m.
However Old Mutual Wealth-owned adviser network Intrinsic has not fared so well.
Losses at the restricted advice network increased from £9m in the first half of 2016 to £13m in the first half of this year.
Old Mutual Wealth attributed this to increased contributions to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and costs associated with “the growth of the business”.
Earlier this year Old Mutual Wealth bought Caerus Capital Group, a network of around 300 advisers, and its results reveal that it has agreed to pay up to £9m for it.
Old Mutual Wealth added that its managed separation from the Old Mutual group is “progressing well” and preparations for this will be completed by the end of the year.
damian.fantato@ft.com
