Henderson inflows slow but managers outperform benchmarks

AuM stood at £81.5bn at 30 September, down £0.7bn from the £82.1bn at 30 June. This was despite net inflows in the quarter of £1.3bn, of which the positive was from retail and a £0.2bn oitflow from institutional clients, with the net flow down from £3.6bn inflow in the first and £2.0bn in the second.

The company warned it expected institutional flows to again be negative in the fourth quarter, driven by the planned roll-off of £420m private equity assets and a net negative short-term pipeline.

Negative movements in investment markets, particularly equities, and foreign exchange losses combined to slice £1.9bn, or 2.3%, off AUM.

This was a lot better than most blue chip index benchmarks, with the FTSE AllShare down 6.5% during the period, the EuroStoxx50 down 9.5%, S&P 500 down 7%, and Nikkei 225 down 14%.

"Henderson's active fund management capabilities helped clients mitigate losses in a period of negative market returns," said chief executive Andrew Formica. "We continued to outperform in terms of investment performance and new business growth, and benefitted from being able to offer our clients a broad range of equity, fixed income and alternative investment strategies."

Looking forward, he said the board expect market conditions to remain challenging and that further forward that regulators will continue to put pressure on asset managers.

Analysts at Shore Capital said they may lower the current full year forecast for net flows of £8.4bn given the comments around negative institutional flows, while a very strong fourth quarter for markets would be needed to hit previous estimates.

That AuM has performed above benchmark over three years bodes well for full year performance fees. "Indeed this may be able to cushion any small downgrades on flows/market performance," ShoreCap said.

Shares in Henderson were up 2% to 287.6p just after 1030 GMT on Thursday.