According to the group performance fees jumped from £700,000 in the six months to end June 2014, to £12.8m for the first six months of 2015.
Nearly all of the jump in fees earned was attributable to exceptional performance on a single fund. But, Jupiter cautioned: “The nature of performance fees and the low amount of AUM with performance fee potential means it is unlikely that these levels will be repeated in future periods.”
During the six months, assets under management rose 8% to £34.3bn. But this figure would have been higher had the net inflows of £498m pounds in the second quarter of 2015 not been overwhelmed by declining markets.
With redemptions roughly steady around £2bn in both Q1 and Q2, the £1.9bn tailwind provided by market movements turned to a headwind that shaved £927m off AUM.
That said, in an environment where many of its peers are reporting outflows, Jupiter recorded net inflows of £1.4bn in the period.
According to CEO Maarten Slenderbroek, part of the reason for this is the performance of the firm’s funds.
“At the end of June 2015, 58% of our assets were above median over the past three years, seen as the key period by distributors for assessing performance. This is an improvement from the position as at December 2014 due to continued strong numbers in top-performing strategies such as European equities, and better outcomes from previously weaker areas.”
But, he added, it is also the result of the continued improvements made to its international distribution strategy.
An Improved physical presence in international markets and expanded active distribution agreements meant the firm was well placed to raise assets in its flexible fixed income and European equity strategies, which, Slenderbroek said proved particularly attractive in the first half of 2015.
For the six months profit before tax jumped from £48.4m to £84m while underlying earnings per share rose from 12.9p to 14.9p.
RBC Capital Markets said the firm beat expectations: “We believe that shareholders should continue to benefit from ongoing growth in the business and attractive capital returns. H1/15 results indicated further progression in Jupiter’s strategy to diversify by product, geography and client type.”
