Evelyn Partners brought in £300m of net new money throughout the first three months of 2024 – less than half of the £700m gained during the same period last year.
While gross new money in the first quarter outpaced last year’s January to March numbers, there were gross outflows of £1.5bn compared to £1bn in the previous cycle. Evelyn Partners also experienced growth of £2.4bn through market movements and performance, resulting in a total of £61.8bn in closing assets. It began the year with £59.1bn in assets.
Paul Geddes, group chief executive officer, said: “The business has made a good start to the year with £1.8bn of gross inflows of new assets in Q1, up 5.9% on the same period last year. In-line with other wealth managers, we also saw higher outflows reflecting the headwinds faced by clients from elevated inflation and higher interest rates.
“Net flows nevertheless remained positive at £0.3bn in the quarter, continuing the trend of consistent net inflows every quarter since the merger that created the group in late 2020.”
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Evelyn Partners grew its group operating income 9.5% since the same period last year, up from £162.5m to £178m. Financial services increased by over £5m to £120.6m, while professional services jumped up almost £10m to £55m. Fund solutions also felt a mild increase to £2.4m.
“In our fast-growing Professional Services business, 21.7% growth in operating income reflected both momentum in organic growth and the effect of the acquisitions we made last year. We are continuing to explore further acquisition opportunities of high-quality accountancy and tax advisory firms to further build out the regional presence of our Professional Services business,” Geddes said.
“We are confident that our strength in financial planning, investment management, tax advice and other professional services leaves us exceptionally well placed to help clients navigate the current challenges and are cautiously optimistic that the macroeconomic environment will gradually improve as inflation eases and with the prospect of rate cuts on the horizon.”
