DURBAN - JSE-listed Quilter plc share price rose more than 8 percent on Wednesday after the financial services group posted a strong performance last year, supported by the integration of its acquisitions, Lighthouse and Charles Derby.
The share price rose to a high of R32.56 by 2.22pm a share yesterday.
The group said its assets under management and administration (AuMA) increased by 13 percent to £110.4 billion at the end of December, up from £97.7bn compared to last year, with growth supported by positive market movements.
In 2019 FTSE 100 gained 12 percent, with global stocks surging by 24 percent and Nasdaq returned 35 percent.
Chief executive Paul Feeney said 2019 was a good year for market performance, but a challenging year for net client flows.
“We were pleased to finish the year in a positive position. Net inflows of £0.3bn for the year represented a sharp turnaround from the net outflow of £0.2bn for the nine months to end-September,” Feeney said.
Quilter, which was unbundled from Old Mutual plc in 2018, acquired Lighthouse Group for £46.2 million last year to consolidate its position in the UK advisory market as well as Charles Derby Group to broaden its national advice business.
Feeney said looking across their businesses the integration of its advice acquisitions was progressing well and both Lighthouse and Charles Derby, which this week were rebranded to Quilter Financial Advisers, were well positioned to contribute to net flows in 2020.
“Quilter Cheviot delivered consistently strong gross sales throughout 2019 reflecting the quality of its franchise supported by the contribution from new hires made to strengthen the business. The outflow associated from the investment managers who departed in mid-2018 declined to £0.3bn in the fourth quarter from £0.6bn in the third quarter.
He said their international business ended the year well with an annual increase of 67 percent in net client cash flow (NCCF).
The group reported £500m in NCCF for the fourth quarter, excluding Heritage Life Assurance, compared to £600m reported in the fourth quarter of 2018.
However, Feeney said the net flows into the UK platform remained subdued ahead of migrating advisers and customers onto their new platform this year, leading to modest flows into Quilter Investors business.
“But stable gross flows in the fourth quarter relative to the prior year demonstrated the strength of our adviser and customer-focussed platform business model. More importantly, we are pleased that the initial migration of customers onto our new platform is currently planned for the weekend of February 22,” Feeney said.