Janus Henderson has been unable to break its string of redemptions, while rival Schroders is riding the hype from its forthcoming joint venture with Lloyds to reverse outflows.
Janus Henderson followed in the footsteps of fellow asset manager Jupiter, revealing further redemptions in the first quarter of 2019.
Investors yanked $7.4bn (£5.7bn) from the transatlantic fund group over the period, marking its sixth consecutive quarter of net outflows. Though net redemptions shrunk from the previous quarter ($8.4bn) they were considerably higher than they were one year ago ($2.7bn).
Earlier this week Jupiter revealed it was also still being plagued by outflows. It said clients pulled £482m in the first three months of the year, putting added pressure on new CEO Andrew Formica to turn the business around.
‘Pockets of underperformance’ at Janus Henderson
Janus Henderson CEO Dick Weil said the group continues to face “pockets of underperformance” which are “driving substantial net outflows”.
Excluding its multi-asset range all other strategies ended the period with net redemptions with equities and fixed income neck and neck with negative flows of £2.9bn and £2.8bn respectively. Its alternatives range saw the next highest level of net redemptions (£1.4bn), while clients pulled £1bn from the firm’s quant funds. Multi-asset funds pulled in £700m as £2.2bn sales outweighed outflows of £1.5bn.
However, the firm ended the quarter with assets under management up 9% at $357.3bn (£273.5bn) from the previous quarter’s $328.5bn (£251.8bn) which Weil said was down to strong investment performance and rebounding markets. Overall, positive market and FX movements contributed £36.2bn to the total AUM.
Weil drew focus to the firm’s financial discipline in returning cash flow to shareholders, noting that $100m had been returned through dividends in the first quarter and that $31m of share buybacks had been completed in March.
Outflows in higher equity fee products and lower performance fees from segregated mandates dragged adjusted revenue down from $442.7m to $417.4m.
Schroders Personal Wealth hype boosts Cazenove
Schroders saw growth across all four core areas of the business over the first quarter, an improvement from the same period last year when every segment was hit by outflows.
Total assets at the firm swelled from £407.2bn on 1 January 2019 to £424.4bn by 31 March 2019, an increase of 4%.
While its institutional arm and fund group contributed the most to AUM growth during the first three months of the year, adding £10bn and £14.4bn respectively, Schroders’ wealth management division, Cazenove, was the fastest growing area, with assets rising 6% from £43.7bn to £46.5bn.
The intermediary business, which includes assets placed with Schroders by advisers, wealth managers and direct to consumer platforms, saw the most sluggish growth of the four segments, with assets rising from £121.2bn to £125.6bn.
Schroders has continued to see stronger demand for its wealth management business since announcing a tie-up with Lloyds of their wealth, investment and financial planning businesses last year.
The joint-venture, which will be marketed under the brand of Schroders Personal Wealth and is due to launch in mid-2019, has eaten into 2018 profits at both businesses.
