LONDON (Reuters) – British fund manager Schroders on Thursday reported a 1% rise in assets under management to 773 billion pounds ($941.51 billion) in the first half, supported by demand for alternative assets, such as private equity and real estate.
Asset managers have been suffering from a drop in markets following the war in Ukraine, while high inflation has also forced savers to tighten their belts.
But Schroders said it had seen appetite for higher-returning assets such as private equity, and also for its wealth management division.
The fund manager reported net inflows of 8.4 billion pounds, helped also by Schroders recent purchase of River & Mercantile’s pensions solutions business.
But more traditional sectors of mutual funds and institutional clients had net outflows of 2.9 billion and 7.6 billion pounds respectively.
“We have built a diversified and resilient business that has weathered difficult market conditions, can fund growth and has put us in an excellent position to serve our clients,” CEO Peter Harrison said in a trading statement.
Pre-tax profit fell 16% to 313 million pounds.
Schroders said it would pay an interim dividend of 37 pence per share.
KBW analysts described the results as “solid”, reiterating their “market perform” rating on the stock.
Also on Thursday, St James’s Place reported a 7% fall in its assets under management for the first half, and Rathbones reported a 14% drop in assets under management and administration.
($1 = 0.8210 pounds)
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Jason Neely and Jane Merriman)
