Premier Miton assets jump despite investors pulling millions from funds

Asset manager Premier Miton saw investors continue to pull millions from its funds over the last six months, but managed to bring its assets under management up due to strong investment performance and a key acquisition.

The firm said this morning that its assets under management rose nine per cent, from £9.8bn to £10.7bn, in the six months between September and March.

This came partially from the acquisition of the £560m Tellworth Investments and also from the market’s performance, with £937m gained due to strong investment returns.

However, over the six months, investors also pulled £268m from Premier Miton’s funds.

Net outflows totalled £1.1bn in the year before, meaning the rate of outflows has reduced but still adds to the trend of UK asset managers seeing investors pull billions from their funds.

A large chunk of the outflows over the last quarter (£100m) came from its fixed-income funds, which saw assets under management reduce from £1.3bn to £1.2bn due to market returns of only £11m at that time.

Meanwhile, its equity funds saw £49m pulled out, but gained £257m in investment performance, while its multi-asset funds lost £142m in outflows, but gained £68m due to market moves.

In the firm’s full year results to September last year, it reported that average assets under management throughout the year sat at £10.8bn.

Mike O’Shea, the firm’s CEO, said: “The backdrop for active fund sales in the UK retail market has been challenging over the period, as it has been since interest rates began to rise at the end of 2021.

“We are now at a point where interest rates are likely to trend lower as we move through 2024 and we believe this will support an improving environment for fund flows and asset values that should particularly benefit Premier Miton.

“We remain confident that our clear proposition in active management and our belief in the potential of mid-sized and smaller companies to deliver significant long-term outperformance over index strategies, alongside our diversified product range and powerful distribution capabilities will allow the group to perform well for our clients and our shareholders moving forward.”