Schroders has reported a pre-tax profit of £215.7m in the first half of 2011, up from £188.2m this time last year but much of this was down to institutional business.
The asset manager says the intermediary business environment has been challenging with retail investors reluctant to commit funds in the face of macro economic uncertainty. The closure of several strategies due to capacity constraints also led to a tail off in fund flows, it says.
Looking forward the group says: “As long as markets are held back by a range of macro economic concerns, intermediary demand and opportunities in private banking are likely to remain muted, but we are well positioned for a recovery with strong investment performance and a broad product range. We continue to see good prospects for growth in institutional.”
Over the past six months the institutional side of Schroders’ business saw increased attention. Flows over the first half of the year amounted to £4.6bn with new business won in Multi-Asset strategies. While institutional investments saw positive net flows in all regions, Schroders notes UK and continental Europe saw particularly strong performance.
Assets under management at the group have now reached £204.8bn.
