Liontrust Asset Management (LSE:LIO) PLC shares fell 6% to 879.48p after it revealed assets under management fell 3.6% in the past three months, driven by an acceleration of net outflows.
Analysts noted this was a bigger fall than expected and significantly worse than flows reported by other UK asset managers for the same period.
The FTSE 250-listed fund management group, which yesterday confirmed it is trying to buy rival GAM, was hit by £2bn of net outflows in the quarter and £4.8bn for the full year to end-March.
Assets under management and advice were reduced to £31.4bn at the end of last month, though it noted they had rebounded to £31.8bn as of Monday this week.
Adjusted profit before tax will be ahead of market expectations and not less than £86mln, the company said, which analysts said was entirely attributable to high performance fees.
Chief executive John Ions called it a “challenging year” in terms of net outflows and mixed performance for the company’s funds, but noted the industry in aggregate suffered UK retail net outflows in 10 out of the 12 months last year.
“The strength of a business and the robustness of its strategy is best demonstrated when it is tested in difficult times. Liontrust has shown that the business as a whole is operating well and we will continue to broaden our products and distribution channels while the adherence to process, focus in distribution and strong brand ensure we will emerge well positioned for future expansion,” he said.
Analysts at broker Peel Hunt said AUM was around 7% below their estimate with outflows “significantly worse than flows reported by other UK asset managers so far for the same period”.
“Although we now believe performance fees could be higher in the future than forecast, the lower AUM will likely lead to reductions in consensus estimates of 4-5%.”
On the talks over the potential acquisition of GAM, the analysts suggested it “creates deal risks: GAM is large (AUM in its investment management business is c.£25bn), consistently loss-making and in a long-standing net outflow position”.