Portfolio Adviser • Portfolio Adviser February 2019 v2 • Companies & Markets

● Hargreaves Lansdown has highlighted the opportunity to tap into more than £1trn worth of assets in the private wealth market. This came in an otherwise disappointing market update that unveiled weaker net flows and warned that lingering Brexit uncertainty could eat into future flows. Net inflows at the platform business shrivelled by nearly a quarter in the six months to 31 Dec ’18, falling from £3.3bn to £2.5bn year-on-year. These were below consensus expectations of net flows totalling £2.7bn. New business was offset by £8.2bn of negative market movements, which brought total AUM down 6% from £91.6bn to £85.9bn.

● Challenging markets in Q4 left St James’s Place’s assets battered after they tumbled from its recently achieved £100bn milestone. SJP finished 2018 with assets just 5% higher, growing from £90.8bn to £95.6bn. The UK’s largest wealth manager had only just surpassed £100bn in assets the previous quarter. SJP took in £3.9bn of gross inflows over the final quarter which was down from the £4.1bn brought in during the record Q4 the year before. However, gross inflows for the year were up 8% on 2017 at £15.7bn, with its pensions business continuing to drive money coming in.

● Jupiter reported £1.7bn of outflows from its mutual funds over the fourth quarter of 2018, with £1.3bn coming from its fixed income strategy. The firm’s update revealed that as a result of investors pulling out, AUM was at £42.7bn, down £5bn, with £3.5bn attributed to poor market conditions.

● Rathbone Brothers saw funds under management grow 12.8% during Q4 from £39.1bn to £44.1bn at the end of December, despite market conditions. It also saw net infl ows increase in 2018, totalling £8.5bn, up from £2.1bn in 2017. This includes the £6.8bn of assets from the acquisition of Speirs and Jeffrey and the remainder from opening funds under management and administration.

● Polar Capital reported AUM of £12.7bn at the end of 31 Dec ’18, up from £12bn at the end of March. It stated it had not been immune to the market correction as it experienced outflows of £286m during the quarter and a reduction of £1.8bn in AUM due to market movement and performance. However, Polar saw performance fee profits of £23.6m for the year, a record that surpasses the £15m reported a year ago.

● Preliminary UK GDP figures are expected on 12 February, while the latest CPI and RPI figures are to be revealed on 13 February.

● FTSE 100 pharma giant Astrazeneca is due to report results on 14 February, the same day as European GDP figures are announced.

● RBS reports on 15 February while Lloyds Banking Group reports on 20 February along with Ashmore Group.

SELECTED MARKETS

The FTSE 100 gained 2.92% over the past month, helped by sterling weakness after the release of unconvincing PMI data. The index is down 1.45% from last year.

The US index ended the month 4.72% higher, driven by a resurgence in tech stocks. Both Microsoft and Apple shares climbed though Alphabet’s dropped.

The EM index was up 5.64% during the month, led by Russian and SA stocks. Trading was down in Asia though, with markets closed for the Lunar New Year.