Total funds under management across the investment management and unit trust businesses were £27.6bn, down 2.5% from 30 June 2015. Over the same period, the FTSE 100 index fell by 7% and the FTSE WMA Balanced index by 3.8%.
The investment management business saw assets under management fall from £25.68bn to £24.84bn. Net organic inflows were £163m, but the group also gained £419m following the acquisition of Jupiter Asset Management’s private client and charity investment management business.
Although assets under management fell, the investment management business grew its underlying net operating income by 12% to £50.5m from the comparable period in 2014.
The unit trust business saw funds under management rise from £2.72bn to £2.76bn over the period. Net inflows were £99m, compared to £100m a year previously. Nevertheless, this translated into a significant hike in income for the unit trust business. Fee income rose from £3.9m to £5.1m, a rise of 30.8%.
The group said that its Rathbone Income, Rathbone Global Opportunities and Rathbone Ethical Bond funds had seen the strongest flows. The Global Opportunities and Ethical Bond funds have seen particularly strong recent performance, with both top quartile over three years. The Income fund sits just outside the top quartile – 21st out of 78 funds in the IA UK Income sector.
Philip Howell sounded a note of caution on the outlook, given recent subdued markets. However, he said the group would continue to take advantage of growth opportunities. At the start of October, the group announced it had agreed to buy the remaining 80.1% of Vision Independent Financial Planning and Castle Investment Solutions to broaden its distribution network.
