The firm’s quarterly report, released 22 July, showed a £29m slide in assets under management stemming from market and investment performance topped up by £7m in outflows in the three months to 30 June.
Liontrust’s institutional arm suffered the most, with fund redemptions totalling £29m exacerbated by £16m drop attributed to market dynamics. UK retail also decreased, with £2m net inflows negated by a £5m fall in investment performance.
While this was offset by net gains of £2m and £10m in the firm’s discretionary portfolio management service and offshore funds, Liontrust’s overall AUM decrease 0.8% from £4.49bn to £4.45bn at quarter end – though as of 20 July it had since climbed to £4.55bn off the back of client inflows.
John Ions, Liontrust chief executive, cited market fluctuations either side of the UK General Election, alongside uncertainty around Greece and China on the international front, as contributing factors to the firm’s AUM slide and subsequent recuperation.
“We have been through a period of great uncertainty for investors,” he said.
“We have experienced the benefits of political stability through a return to net positive inflows into our UK-domiciled retail funds since the General Election.
“Internationally, however, the ongoing negotiations between Greece and the rest of the Eurozone and the IMF over a further bailout have dominated the news for the past few weeks, we have seen significant volatility in the Chinese stock market after reaching a seven-year high in mid-June and then there are continued concerns over future liquidity of bond markets.”
