Nucleus Financial pleased with performance as it invests in platform

Independent wrap platform provider Nucleus Financial Group updated the market on its assets under administration for the three months ended 30 September on Friday, reporting that it had grown 6.8% year-on-year to £15.7bn at period end, or 13.1% higher for the year-to-date.

The AIM-traded firm said that by comparison, the FTSE All-Share Index fell by 1.6% year-on-year, and increased 10.5% year-to-date.

It said gross inflows increased for the third consecutive quarter to £490m, while its net inflows remained steady, with both second and third quarter net inflows reported as £111m.

Nucleus said the number of advisers actively using the platform had increased 2.1% year-on-year to 1,389, and customer numbers rose 3.6% year-on-year to 95,373.

The board said it had made “continued investment” in its core product in the third quarter with the implementation of new functionality within its customer portal, 'Nucleus Go', and post the reporting period, the implementation of new paperless correspondence options for customers.

It had also made continued investment in platform development during the fourth quarter, which it said would deliver new trading functionality, bulk switching capability, a faster payments service for withdrawals and new telephony infrastructure.

“Momentum has continued with AUA increasing over 13% year-to-date compared to a FTSE All-Share increase of 10.5% in the same period,” said founder and chief executive officer David Ferguson.

“Gross inflows increased, albeit marginally, for the third successive quarter against a backdrop of continued investor uncertainty.

“Outflows remain higher than normal but in line with expectations, and reflect primarily the ongoing impact of a small number of firms that have been acquired by consolidators.”

Ferguson said net inflows remained stable at £111m and, as it had previously reported, the company was in the early stages of a new partnership agreement with one IFA consolidator, and was in continued discussions with others.

“We expect these new relationships to enhance resilience of net inflows while also presenting future growth opportunities.

“In September we held our 11th annual conference where we welcomed over 300 delegates and confirmed our intention to continue investing in the platform proposition.

“We're very positive on product development and developments completed in the quarter, or shortly after, included enhancements to our customer portal, Nucleus Go, and new paperless correspondence options for customers.”

Ferguson noted that the company had “significantly increased” the velocity of its change programme in the current year.

“This planned and marked acceleration has continued into the fourth quarter with a series of further enhancements.

“These include new trading functionality that allows the placing of multiple trade instructions at the same time, enhanced bulk switching capability enabling more efficient performance, the introduction of a faster payments service for withdrawals and new telephony infrastructure.

“All of which are designed to significantly improve service delivery, engagement with customers and advisers, and operational resilience.”