Liontrust Asset Management more than doubled its pre-tax profit in the year to March 31.
In a filing to the stock exchange today (June 23), the firm announced pre-tax profits of £34.9m in the period, compared with £16.5m in 2020, an increase of 116 per cent.
The figure includes £15m in acquisition and reorganisation costs as a result of the acquisition of firms Architas and Neptune Investment Management last year.
The group now has assets under management and advice of £30.9bn, an increase of 92 per cent on the £16bn figure for 2020.
Net inflows for the year were £3.5bn, an increase of 30 per cent on the £2.7bn seen in the previous year.
John Ions, chief executive of Liontrust, said: “I am proud of the way Liontrust and our colleagues have performed over the past year, rising to the challenges and continuing to deliver excellence across the business for our clients.
“The importance and benefit of high-quality active fund management with strong long-term performance has been reiterated by the pandemic.
“The excellence of our active investment management, service and communications gives me great confidence that Liontrust will continue to grow as we emerge from the pandemic.”
Chairman of the firm Alastair Barbour added his thanks to board member Mike Bishop, who will leave the firm in September. Bishop will be replaced by Quintin Price who will join as a non-executive director on July 1.
Barbour said: “The board and company are very grateful to Mike for his work, wisdom and support over many years which has contributed to Liontrust enjoying such success.
"He has been a massive help to me personally as a non-executive director and now chairman. Mike will be much missed by the board and we wish him all the very best for the future.”
Price, who spent ten years as head of alpha strategies at BlackRock, is currently a senior adviser at Actis, a privately owned private equity, real estate, energy and infrastructure firm.
The results come after a busy year for the firm, which conducted an overhaul of its fund range in October last year which saw it selling off its Asia Income Strategy.
The strategy, and accompanying Liontrust Asia Income fund, was sold to Somerset Capital Management, and Liontrust gained up to £2m in cash over five years for the deal.
The decision followed an internal review of its product range as the fund house evaluated “where best to devote [its] resources” following significant growth over the past few years.
In an assessment of value report released in December, the firm found that of its 41-strong fund range, investors in 18 of the portfolios could be moved to a cheaper share class. It also said it would keep four of its portfolios under “close review”.
The firm is also launching a new sustainable investment trust in late June.
sally.hickey@ft.com
