Mattioli Woods has played down the loss of clients in its wealth, Sipp and employee benefits business as assets under management across the business remain flat at £9.4bn, moving a mere £5m over a six-month period.
Sipp and SSAS assets, the largest division at the business, inched forward by just £89.2m to £6.1bn while wealth assets increased by £50.2m to £1.8bn. Combined with employee benefit assets falling to £1bn, down from £1.2bn, total net assets, excluding Amati Global Investors, fell £36.9m to £8.9bn.
In contrast, Amati Global Investors assets increased by £41.9m to £450.9m, an increase of 9.3%, compared to 1.5% growth in the Sipps business and 2.9% growth in wealth. The employee benefits business saw assets fall 14.7%.
The TB Amati UK Smaller Companies Fund grow from £291.1m to £350.2m over the six-month period.
Employee benefits losses two large clients
Mattioli Woods played down the loss of “two large corporate clients” from the employee benefits business during the reporting period stating revenues “are not linked to the value of client assets” and that its “corporate client portfolio remains well diversified”.
The Sipp and wealth divisions also saw client numbers fall. The total number of personal wealth clients fell 1.2% from 6,052 to 5,977, while in the Sipps and SSAS business there was a 0.5% fall in the number of schemes administered with total numbers falling from 11,119 to 11,060.
Mattioli Woods attributed the fall in wealth numbers to “natural client attrition”. In the Sipps business it said it had been appointed to wind-up several portfolios due to the failure of their previous operators “with the lower number of schemes due in part to the transfer of certain members of these distressed portfolios to alternative arrangements”.
Fee-based revenue profile less sensitive to assets under management
Mattioli noted that, unlike many of its rivals, the majority of its revenues were fee based rather than linked to assets under management, therefore giving the business “a revenue profile that is less sensitive to market performance”.
Its revenues increased 3.8% over the period to £30.3m from £29.2m in H1 2019, while profits were up 7.1% to £6m from £5.6m.
Chief executive Ian Mattioli (pictured) said the group was well positioned to grow organically and via acquisitions.
“More than a decade of low interest rates and evolving client preferences, including environmental, social and governance considerations, have created challenges for people seeking to generate income, while preserving and growing their capital,” Mattioli said.
“While we anticipate greater client activity and increasing inflows into our bespoke investment services following the UK general election result in December 2019, there remains some uncertainty around the exact shape of Brexit.”
