DURBAN - QUILTER plc yesterday reported a 7 percent increase in assets under management and administration (AuMA) to £117.8 billion (R2.45 trillion) for the fourth quarter to end December, with the group attributing the increment to improved net flows and positive market movement.
Quilter is a leading wealth management business in the UK and has operations across the globe. Quilter reported net client cash flow of £400 million for the quarter, with total net inflows increasing to £1.6bn for the year compared to £300m reported last year.
Quilter chief executive Paul Feeney said 2020 was a year of unprecedented challenges in so many respects and one of extraordinary market volatility.
“It is in challenging times like these that our advice-based model comes to the fore and this is reflected through the higher levels of client retention experienced in 2020 at 92 percent compared to 88 percent in 2019. We finished the year strongly with improved year-on-year net inflows, AuMA ending around 7 percent higher over the year, and modestly higher average AuMA over 2019, despite market volatility,” Feeney said.
The business comprises two segments: Advice and Wealth Management and Wealth Platforms. The group reached important milestones during the quarter, which included a successful second client asset migration at the end of November.
At the end of the year, 80 percent, which is approximately £50bn, of UK Investment Platform assets had been migrated on to the new platform technology despite UK lockdowns.
The group expected the final migration of assets on to the new UK platform to be completed during the last weekend of February, and the group had given notice to advisers and customers involved in the final migration.
Feeney said that he was pleased by the consistent performance of their UK platform throughout the year and with it delivering a good final quarter despite the major migration completing at the end of November.
“This is testament to the quality of our franchise coupled by the extraordinary planning and execution efforts from our teams to deliver a successful migration in a lockdown environment,” he said.
Quilter also acquired 118.3 million shares at the end of December in a share buyback programme at a cost of £153m. Quilter plc shares closed 2.90 percent higher at R32.66 on the JSE yesterday.
BUSINESS REPORT