St. James's Place PLC (LON:STJ) saw its total assets fall by 0.9% in the first quarter, hit by weaker stock markets although the wealth manager continued to see net inflows of new client money.
In a trading update, the FTSE 100-listed firm said its group funds under management at the end of March were £89.9bn, down from £90.8bn at the end of December.
READ: St James's Place sees full-year results beat forecasts
During the same period, the FTSE 100 index fell by 8.2%, its worst quarterly performance since the third quarter of 2011.
Despite the weaker market backdrop, however, St James's Place said it had still managed to take in £2.6bn net new client money and had managed to keep hold of most of the client funds it already had, with a 96% retention rate.
The group also said it continued to see strong demand for its face-to-face advice services and reiterated its growth target for the year.
Chief executive Andrew Croft commented: "We continue to see a growing market for trusted face-to-face financial advice and believe St. James's Place remains ideally placed to meet this need."
He added: "This growing market, together with the strong start we have made to 2018, reinforces our confidence in our ability to achieve our stated objective of 15-20 percent growth in gross inflows during 2018 and beyond."