The inflows were driven in particular by a 22% increase in new single investments to £1.8bn and 37% growth in the group's unit trust and ISA business. Strong retention of client funds, at 95%, helped offset market weakness.
The group has announced significant changes to its fund manager line-up over the quarter. It moved a number of mandates away from Invesco Perpetual, redeploying them with Neil Woodford's new venture, Woodford Investment Management, Manulife Asset Management (Paul Boyne and Doug McGraw), Threadneedle Investments (Richard Colwell, Stephen Thornber and Jim Cielinski) and Wasatch Advisers (Ajay Krishnan and Roger Edgley).
The group said that these changes would also help with its expansion into the Far East expatriate market. It is close to receiving the necessary regulatory approvals to complete the acquisition of the Singapore based Henley Group, which provides services for the expatriate community in Asia Pacific with offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai. It has over 4000 clients.
David Bellamy, chief executive, said the groups had been encouraged by the pensions and savings initiatives announced in last month's budget and demand for wealth management advice remained high.
The shares rose 1% to 771p in early trading. They have risen 40% over the past 12 months as the group has looked to be a key beneficiary from the Retail Distribution Review.
