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Jupiter has recorded its first year of net inflows in almost a decade and a rise in annual profit, in a sign that a turnaround at the UK asset manager is bearing fruit.
The London-listed group said customer net inflows last year were £1.3bn. In the previous year it had net withdrawals of £10bn. Its shares rose almost 10 per cent on the news.
Matthew Beesley, chief executive, said it was the first calendar year of net positive inflow of customers’ funds, which include institutions and individual retail investors, since 2017.
He added there had been “a marked shift in client sentiment with improved investment performance” during a year in which stock markets reached record highs.
The results come in the wake of US asset manager Nuveen’s £9.9bn bid to buy Schroders.
Beesley said: “I’m not sure the Schroders deal is a signal . . . that there’s about to be a wave of M&A across the UK asset management industry.”
He noted that this was because of Schroders’ “uniqueness and structure” as a business that operates in public and private markets as well as wealth management.
Jupiter said net revenue last year increased to £431mn, up nearly a fifth and beating analyst expectations. Statutory profit before tax rose 49 per cent to £132mn.
Rae Maile, analyst at Panmure Liberum, said the results “are well ahead of estimates driven by an exceptional contribution from performance fees” from certain investment funds.
The turnaround comes after Jupiter last year struck a deal to buy CCLA, one of the biggest money managers for UK charities, helping to boost Jupiter’s assets under management by £15bn.
More than a fifth of assets managed by CCLA, which has been historically owned by its non-profit client base, are on behalf of the Church of England.
Jupiter said in its results that total assets under management increased by a fifth over the year to £54bn.
Under Beesley, Jupiter has cut costs and merged or closed some smaller funds. The group also parted ways with star fund manager Ben Whitmore at the end of 2024, and poached Alex Savvides from JO Hambro Capital Management to replace him.
Beesley has taken other steps to boost the business, such as poaching an investment team from rival Origin to expand in global equities.
Jupiter is one of a group of UK midsized asset managers that has grappled with high costs, regulatory pressure and customer withdrawals in recent years, as investors have shifted their money to cheaper index-tracking funds.
