Quilter PLC (LON:QLT), the wealth management firm, saw assets under management/administration (AuMA) saw a recovery in the second quarter of 2020 after a tricky first quarter.
AuMA stood at £107.4bn at the end of June, barely changed from £107.3bn a year earlier but a big improvement on the figure of £95.3bn at the end of March.
Net client cash flows (NCCF) were positive at £1.1bn and a big improvement on the NCCF of £0.3bn in the first half of last year, due to lower client withdrawals.
Adjusted profit before tax fell to £71mln from £89mln in the first half of last year, which was described by Quilter as a “resilient performance in challenging markets”.
Reported profit before tax was £43mln versus a loss the year before of £17mln.
The board has recommended an interim dividend of 1.0p, which it conceded was at the lower end of the target pay-out range and not necessarily indicative of the sort of dividend that will be recommended at the full-year stage.
“In response to revenue challenges in the first half of 2020, we pulled hard on the cost lever, both through structural cost reduction via our Optimisation programme and tactically with a planned reduction in discretionary expenditure of around £30 million this year. Our cautious outlook with broadly stable market conditions for the remainder of the year means we continue to expect revenue headwinds. As a consequence, we will maintain a firm handle on expenses with a modestly lower second half out-turn for costs anticipated to offset the expected impact from revenue headwinds,” said Paul Feeney, the chief executive officer of Quilter.
“We are pleased to see the significant pick-up in net flows across the business in the first half, with gross flows remaining resilient despite the market turmoil and retention rates improving. This gives us confidence that we can deliver improving flows as the Platform migration project completes,” he added.
Shares in Quilter were unchanged in early deals.