Liontrust Asset Management saw net outflows of £1.6bn during the three months ending 31 December 2024, according to its latest trading update published on the London Stock Exchange today (15 January).
Outflows have reduced by £0.1bn compared to those suffered over the same time period last year, with assets under management and advice now standing at £24.6bn. This marks a fall of 5.3% over the quarter. As at 9 January 2025, assets stood at £24.7bn.
John Ions (pictured), chief executive officer at Liontrust, said some 50% of net outflows took place in October alone, “mirroring the broader UK funds industry which experienced its third worst month on record ahead of the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget”.
“Liontrust and other active managers are still facing external headwinds, but we believe the impact will lessen over the course of 2025.
“The group continues to make good progress towards our strategic objectives and there is increasingly strong fund performance.”
He added “there are reasons to believe we are entering a more positive period for active investors”, explaining: “There is currently an extreme concentration of the mega caps in the US market, which is at its highest level for a century.
“Any broadening of returns from equity markets, greater focus on valuations and lower index returns going forward will present opportunities for price discovery among active investors.”
‘Further savings have been identified’
Following the announcement of Liontrust’s business transformation programme in its half-year results during November last year, Ions said work on its operating model is “mostly complete”.
“BlackRock’s Aladdin platform was implemented in July 2024 and is working well. We now have a much more extensive relationship with BNY’s front office and middle office teams and the BNY Data Vault system is embedded in our operating model and is being used day to day with further, business as usual, development ongoing.”
Ions also referred to the proposed reduction of 25 roles across the firm – announced last year – which would be set to save Liontrust £4m in costs from employee, member and non-staff-related expenses. These changes are due to be completed by the end of March this year.
“Having reviewed the proposed cost efficiencies, further savings have been identified and we are now proposing a further small reduction in roles and non-staff related expenses across our business for annualised savings, if implemented in full, of employee-related, member-related and non-staff related expenses of around £6m,” the CEO explained.
“The additional reductions identified expect to be completed by the end of September 2025, and implementation costs for the role reductions and non-staff related expenses are now anticipated to be around £4.5m, which will be mostly incurred in the second half of the current financial year, with the balance in the first half of the next.”
10 Liontrust funds to adopt ‘Sustainable Focus’ label
Alongside the company’s results, Liontrust announced that its Sustainable Investment team’s suite of 10 UK-domiciled funds, which in total manage £8.5bn of assets, will adopt the ‘Sustainable Focus’ label under the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements and Investment labelling regime (SDR).
However, the labelling will see changes to the funds’ investment objectives and policies, all of which have received approval from the Financial Conduct Authority. Liontrust will notify investors of these specific changes by the end of this month, in order to use the SDR labels from April this year.
The funds that will be impacted are as follows:
· Liontrust Sustainable Future Monthly Income Bond
· Liontrust Sustainable Future Cautious Managed
· Liontrust Sustainable Future Corporate Bond
· Liontrust Sustainable Future Defensive Managed
· Liontrust Sustainable Future European Growth
· Liontrust Sustainable Future Global Growth
· Liontrust Sustainable Future Managed
· Liontrust Sustainable Future Managed Growth
· Liontrust Sustainable Future UK Growth
· Liontrust UK Ethical
Commenting on the SDR labelling and subsequent mandate changes, Ions said: “Liontrust will be adopting the FCA’s Sustainability Focus label for all 10 of the UK-domiciled funds managed by the Sustainable Investment team with a total of £8.5bn in AuMA.
“Improving trust and transparency of sustainable investment funds will play a key role in clients’ decision making. Clients will benefit from Liontrust having one of the broadest fund ranges with SDR labels, comprising equity, fixed income and managed funds.
“Liontrust and other active managers are still facing external headwinds, but we believe the impact will lessen over the course of 2025. The group continues to make good progress towards our strategic objectives and there is increasingly strong fund performance.”