Gartmore Group Limited (LON:GRT) , the fund manager, this morning struggled to put a brave face on the disruption it had encountered during the first quarter of 2010. The suspension on March 30 of star trader Guillaume Rambourg for potential breaches of internal rules helped to drive net outflows to more than £1.1bn during the early part of the year, with £380m alone being recalled on May 4. Shares in the group responded by falling 1.4% to 149p in early trading.

Rambourg, a major shareholder in Gartmore, has since been reinstated as an investment analysts following an internal investigation into whether or not he was directing trades, which is against the firm's rules. It said that following that reinstatement a “significant proportion” of notified alternative fund redemptions were rescinded.

During the first three months, Gartmore saw assets under management (AUM) increase by £1.3bn or 6% to £23.5bn, driven by £126m of new business combined with market and investment performance. Its alternative fund AUM increased to £4.4bn from £3.9bn on the previous quarter. Mutual fund AUM increased to £12.6bn from £12.2bn and segregated mandate AUM increased to £6.5bn from £6.1bn. The quarter also saw the firm launch two new absolute return mutual fund strategies and complete a private equity fund of funds joint venture with Hermes Fund Managers.

Jeffrey Meyer, Gartmore’s chief executive, said: “The business performed reasonably well during the first quarter, however more recent events have caused a loss of momentum. With the reinstatement of Guillaume and other steps we have taken, we are in a position to regain that momentum.”

Unlock the rest of this article with a 14 day trial

Unlock with Email
Unlock with Google

Already have an account?
Login here