Net inflows for the year ended 31 December were £5.5bn, up from £1bn in the previous yearly period, driven by European equities and unconstrained fixed income, the results released today revealed.
Profits before tax increased 13% from £171.4m to £192.9m; however, previously announced changes to unit trust pricing and the absorption of research costs under Mifid II will result in a profits headwind of around £18m in 2018, the results warned.
Total assets under management were £50.2bn for the year ended 31 December compared with £40.5bn in the previous year.
Jupiter chief executive Maarten Slendebroek said a strategy of diversification continues to drive value for clients and shareholders.
“Fixed income AUM now stands at £13.4bn or 27% of the total for the group, contributing towards our strategic goal of diversifying across different product types. There was also meaningful demand for a range of other strategies, including absolute return and global emerging markets,” Slendebroek said.
Alongside outcome-orientated multi-asset and global equities, the results presentation listed alternatives and fixed income specialties as product areas it is looking to “build and develop”. It listed absolute return and fixed income unconstrained as areas it looking to continue to grow.
In 2017 it launched the Global Emerging Markets Short Duration Bond fund, the Global Levered Absolute Return fund and the Emerging & Frontier Income trust.
The results show Jupiter now has 13 funds with AUM over £1bn; however, three of those lost assets over the six-month period to 31 December. They are the £2.9bn Merlin Income and £1.9bn Merlin Growth funds, as well as the £1.3bn UK Growth fund.
In contrast, the Dynamic Bond fund saw assets rises from £9.1bn in June 2017 to £9.7bn at 31 December and the Strategic Bond fund increased from £3.7bn to £3.9bn over the period.
The European fund grew to £4.9bn at the end of December from £4.3bn in June, while the European Growth fund, the only Sicav with more than £1bn in AUM, grew from £1.9bn to £2.1bn over the six-month period.
Over the full year, the Absolute Return fund almost doubled in assets from £763m to £1.4bn at 31 December.
International business accounted for 75% of net inflows with particularly strong growth from Italy and Spain.
