LONDON (Reuters) – Money manager Schroders plc saw its assets under management increase 15% to a record high of 574.4 billion pounds ($801.52 billion) last year, though net inflows of new money were down.
A strong performance by its private clients and solutions division helped growth, with the company saying uncertainty over the pace of the global economic recovery should suit their active investment management model.
“The pandemic continues to pose macro-economic uncertainty and will provide an environment which is favourable for active investment decision-making,” Schroders said in its outlook.
The firm’s profit before tax and exceptional items increased slightly to 702.3 million pounds from 701.2 million, beating a company-compiled consensus of 649.2 million. It said it would pay a dividend of 79 pence, unchanged from a year earlier.
The company generated net inflows of 42.5 billion pounds, down from the 43.4 billion in 2019.
Schroders shares were down 2% at 3.51 pounds in early trade.
“If you had offered me these results at the start of the crisis, I would have bitten your hand off,” CEO Peter Harrison said.
“What we saw was a broad-based performance across fixed income and equity – it was a great time for active managers.”
($1 = 0.7166 pounds)
(Reporting by Abhinav Ramnarayan; editing by Rachel Armstrong and Jason Neely)
