Trading Statement

RNS Number : 1497E

Liontrust Asset Management PLC

07 April 2014

 



Embargoed until 7am on 7 April 2014

Stock Exchange Announcement

LIONTRUST ASSET MANAGEMENT PLC

Year End Trading Update

Liontrust Asset Management Plc ("Liontrust" or the "Group"), the specialist independent fund management group, today issues its year end trading update.

Highlights

·     AuM increased by £574 million over the financial year to £3.6 billion

·     Net inflows of £160 million into UK Retail funds in the quarter to 31 March 2014 and £293 million for the financial year

·     Multi-Asset team awarded new £54 million mandate in the quarter to 31 March 2014, which is expected to be funded in the first quarter of the financial year ending 31 March 2015

·     Six of our actively managed UK Retail funds are in the first quartile of their respective IMA sectors since launch or since fund manager inception to 31 March 2014

Commenting, John Ions, Chief Executive, said:

"Liontrust has continued the progress of the past four years, with assets under management rising by £574 million to £3.6 billion and net flows of £293 million into our UK Retail funds. The three months to the end of March have been the best quarter for net inflows into our UK Retail funds for ten years.

"The further diversification of our business is shown by the fact the assets under management for five of our fund management teams has grown in the latest quarter. Our sixth team - Global Credit - have been impacted by a specific larger client withdrawing assets as a result of conditions in emerging markets.

"At present, 95% of our sales success has come from our domestic market but we see significant opportunities for distribution outside the UK. Therefore, we are enhancing our international offering through the launch of four Dublin-based feeder funds for Liontrust Macro Equity Income, Asia Income, Global Income and UK Growth.

"The strength of our proposition is shown by the fact we have been chosen by Standard Life to be one of the key fund management groups they will be promoting through their account managers across the UK. The fact that we are entering into a deeper partnership with such an important distributor as Standard Life demonstrates the significant progress we have made in developing Liontrust over the past four years.

"This comes after we attracted nearly 200 professional advisers and fund buyers to attend our 5th Annual Investment Conference in January and 200 intermediaries to our Equity Income Roadshow at five locations around the UK in September 2013.

"The profile of the business continues to be strong. We achieved 86% correct attribution for our ads among intermediaries in March 2014, according to Marketing Pulse, compared to an average score among peers of 59%.

"The outlook for asset managers has only been enhanced by changes in the recent UK Budget and our belief that managers with clear and robust investment processes and demonstrable track records will benefit as funds continue to be the building blocks for long-term saving.

"Liontrust has a strong platform from which to grow. This has been achieved by having a clear focus and communicating a strong proposition to our clients.  As we enter our new financial year, we are confident the long-term performance, spread of fund management talent, rigorous investment processes, distribution capability and positive brand awareness will enable us to continue our growth in assets under management and profitability."

Funds under Management

On 31 March 2014, our assets under management ("AuM") stood at £3,613 million and were broken down by type and process as follows:-

Process	Total	Institutional	UK Retail	DPMS	Offshore Funds
	(£m)	(£m)	(£m)	(£m)	(£m)
Cashflow Solution	860	552	305	-	3
Economic Advantage	1,826	-	1,813	-	13
Macro Thematic	650	76	574	-	-
Credit	55	-	-	-	55
Asia	23	-	23	-	-
Multi-Asset	143	29	-	114	-
Indexed	56	-	56	-	-
Total	3,613	657	2,771	114	71

Funds Flows

Liontrust has recorded net inflows of £16 million in the quarter to 31 March 2014 (2013: £261 million). Net inflows in the quarter include lower fee margin redemptions of £196 million from a single client in the Liontrust Global Strategic Bond Fund. A reconciliation of fund flows and AuM over the quarter to 31 March 2014 is as follows:-

	Total	Institutional	UK Retail	DPMS	Offshore Funds
	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
Opening AuM - 1 January 2014	3,570	586	2,589	103	292
Net flows	16	60	160	11	(215)
Market and Investment performance	27	11	22	-	(6)
Closing AuM - 31 March 2014	3,613	657	2,771	114	71

The net inflows for the financial year to 31 March 2014 are £381 million (2013: £514 million). A reconciliation of fund flows and AuM over the financial year to 31 March 2014 is as follows:- 

	Total	Institutional	UK Retail	DPMS	Offshore Funds
	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
Opening AuM - 1 April 2013	3,039	501	2,263	0	275
Net flows*	381	109	293	111	(132)
Market and Investment performance	193	47	215	3	(72)
Closing AuM - 31 March 2014	3,613	657	2,771	114	71

* The figures for "Net flows" include £123 million relating to DPMS and Institutional assets that came with the recruitment of the Multi-Asset team and the acquisition of North Investment Partners Limited.

Fund Performance (Quartile ranking)

Our funds continue to deliver strong long-term performance. Six of our unit trusts are in the first quartile of their respective sectors since launch or since the current managers took over the running of the funds.

	Quartile ranking - 1 year	Quartile ranking - 3 year	Quartile ranking - 5 year	Quartile ranking - Since Manager tenure	Launch / Manager appointed/Change in Objective
Liontrust Global Income Fund*	-	-	-	2	01/08/2013
Liontrust UK Growth Fund	4	2	2	2	25/03/2009
Liontrust Special Situations Fund	3	1	1	1	11/11/2005
Liontrust UK Smaller Companies Fund	2	1	1	1	08/01/1998
Liontrust European Growth Fund	4	4	2	1	15/11/2006
Liontrust Asia Income Fund	3	-	-	1	05/03/2012
Liontrust Macro Equity Income Fund	2	3	2	1	31/10/2003
Liontrust Macro UK Growth Fund	2	3	3	1	01/08/2002

Source: Financial Express, total return, bid to bid, to 31 March 2014 unless otherwise stated.  The above funds are all UK authorised unit trusts (retail share class).  Liontrust FTSE 100 Tracker Fund (index fund) not included. Past performance is not a guide to the future; the value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise. Investors may not get back the amount originally subscribed.

*Liontrust Global Income Fund's investment objective and policy changed to allow the fund managers to select companies on a global basis. The fund moved into the IMA Global Equity Income sector on 1 August 2013.

For further information please contact:

Liontrust Asset Management Plc                              020 7412 1700

John Ions                                                                             www.liontrust.co.uk

Vinay Abrol

Simon Hildrey - Head of Marketing & Communications

Numis Securities Limited                                             020 7260 1000

Charles Farquhar, Andrew Holloway

Forward Looking Statements

This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and businesses and plans of the Group. These statements and forecasts involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend upon circumstances that have not yet occurred. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements and forecasts. As a result, the Group's actual future financial condition, results of operations and business and plans may differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.  Liontrust undertakes no obligation publicly to update or revise forward-looking statements, except as may be required by applicable law and regulation (including the Listing Rules of the Financial Services Authority).  Nothing in this announcement should be construed as a profit forecast or be relied upon as a guide to future performance.

Other information

The release, publication, transmission or distribution of this announcement in, into or from jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom may be restricted by law and therefore persons in such jurisdictions into which this announcement is released, published, transmitted or distributed should inform themselves about and observe such restrictions. Any failure to comply with the restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

ENDS

 

END

 

 

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