Weaker markets were a drag on Brooks Macdondald’s total funds under management, which dipped 0.7% from £11.74bn to £11.66bn for the quarter ended 31 March 2018.
The Aim-listed manager said it took in £343m worth of net new business flows across its UK and international businesses over the latest reporting period, which is its third quarter, but added this was offset by negative investment performance of -£422m over the period.
Total assets in the wealth manager’s UK business dropped off 0.3% to £10.04bn, while the international business suffered a sharper decline, with AUM down 2.8% at £1.62bn.
Following the update, Cantor Fitzgerald cut its target price for the investment group from 2200p to 2000p, predicting that the firm’s earnings for the full year will continue to be weighed down by legacy issues stemming from the Spearpoint acquisition.
But Keith Baird, financial services research analyst at the stockbroker, said he expects earnings to “pick up again in the future driven by continued inflows and AUM growth”.
Cantor Fitzgerald retained its hold recommendation for Brooks Macdonald.
Amundi
Meanwhile, Amundi, one of Europe’s largest asset managers, went against the grain of fund groups delivering weaker AUM in the first three months of the year, boosting total assets by 1.8% from €1.43trn to €1.45trn.
Compared with Q1 2017, total AUM was 5.8% higher.
CEO Yves Perrier said the group’s “strong start to the year” was driven by strong net inflows from its retail and institutional client bases and further strengthened from synergies with Pioneer Investments, which it bought for €3.5bn in December 2016.
Amundi’s retail segment accounted for €21.7bn net inflows, up 62% compared with Q1 2017, while the institutional business delivered net inflows of €18.1bn in Q1 2018 versus €15.8bn in Q1 2017.
The asset manager said that net inflows were evenly split by asset class but noted that its international business continued to drive most of the inflows, accounting for 64% of the total.
Perrier added that the integration with Pioneer was being implemented faster than anticipated, estimating that 60% of synergies would be generated in 2018, higher than the initial 40% projected.
By the end of March, more than 50% of the workforce reductions had been carried out, as well as several major legal mergers in Germany, Italy, the US, Luxembourg and Japan.
