Quilter AuM rise amid equity markets rebound
Financial services company Quilter reported a rise in first-quarter assets under management on Wednesday.
Quilter - which announced earlier this month that it had agreed to buy national advice firm Lighthouse for 33p per share in cash - said AuM increased 5.1% from the end of December 2018 to £114.9bn. This was attributed to a rebound in equity markets and strong investment performance in what the company described as a "challenging" flow environment.
Meanwhile, net client cash flow was £500m excluding Quilter Life Assurance, down from £600m in the fourth quarter of last year.
Chief executive officer Paul Feeney said: "As indicated at our full year results, net client cash flows have continued to be affected by the challenging markets. However, we continue to be encouraged by the resilience of integrated flows which have remained robust during this period, and the high level of customer asset retention across our businesses, which was broadly stable on 2018 at 89%.
"While near-term headwinds remain, this demonstrates that our clients and their advisers value Quilter's integrated advice-led model, and continues to be supportive of our operating margin and revenue outlook."
At 1500 BST, the shares were down 1% at 155p.