REG - Liontrust Asset Mgmt - Trading Statement

Liontrust Asset ManagementAnnouncement

17/01/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 9047Z  Liontrust Asset Management PLC  17 January 2024

LEI: 549300XVXU6S7PLCL855

For immediate release

17 January 2024

Stock Exchange Announcement

LIONTRUST ASSET MANAGEMENT PLC

Trading Update

 

Liontrust Asset Management Plc ("Liontrust", the "Company", or the "Group"),
the specialist independent fund management group, today issues its trading
update for the three months ended 31 December 2023 (the "Period").

 

Highlights

 

·    Net outflows of £1.7 billion in the Period.

 

·    Assets under management and advice ("AuMA") were £27.8 billion as at
31 December 2023, an increase of 0.6% over the Period.

 

·    AuMA as at 12 January 2024 were £27.2 billion.

 

·    Two new senior hires: Mark Hawtin - and his three-strong team - to
join in May as Head of Global Growth Equities and Jeremy Roberts to join in
April as Head of Global Distribution (ex-UK).

 

·    Appointment of Kristian Cook as Head of UK Distribution and bringing
single strategy and multi-asset distribution into one UK sales team.

 

Commenting, John Ions, Chief Executive, said:

 

"We continue to develop the business to ensure it is well positioned to
deliver our strategic objectives. This includes the appointment of Heads of
Global Growth Equities and Global Distribution (ex-UK), the enhancement of the
UK Distribution team, expanding our fund offering and a strong focus on client
engagement.

 

Among the drivers of the net outflows in the last quarter, totalling £1.7
billion, were the ongoing negative sentiment among investors and the current
challenges facing active asset managers. These challenges include the fact
active managers have never been confronted by such a competitive environment
to attract and retain assets as is the case now, both from within and outside
the sector.

 

But there are still strong long-term tailwinds behind asset management.
People's need to save and invest for the future has never been greater. And
equity markets are currently offering the chance to invest in some quality
companies at attractive entry points, especially among small and mid-caps.
This is perfect territory for active managers, and an opportunity to attract
assets.

 

The strength of our investment teams and their long-term processes is
demonstrated by the fact that 68% of Liontrust's UK-domiciled retail funds
were in the first or second quartile of their respective IA sectors since
launch or the current manager being appointed to 31 December 2023(1).

 

We have highlighted before that Liontrust's bias towards quality growth
investing and small and mid-caps, along with a significant proportion of our
AuMA being invested in UK equities, has impacted performance and flows.
Liontrust's improving UK retail fund performance is shown by the number of
funds in the first or second quartile increasing to 66% over one year to 31
December 2023 from 50% to 30 September 2023(1). This includes the Global
Technology Fund being ranked first in its IA sector over one year, Edinburgh
Investment Trust being ranked second and Global Dividend Fund and UK Focus
Fund both ranked third(1). The Sustainable Future Managed and Managed Growth
funds are also both first quartile over one year.

 

Key pillars of our strategy are to broaden our fund range, asset classes and
geographical distribution to increase sales and to ensure we can perform
through the cycle of demand. In pursuit of these two strategic objectives, we
have recruited Mark Hawtin as Head of Global Growth Equities and Jeremy
Roberts as Head of Global Distribution (ex-UK), who will join Liontrust in May
and April respectively.

 

Mark Hawtin and his team are an important addition to Liontrust given the
strong demand for global equities across distribution channels in the UK and
internationally. Mark has a strong track record in managing long only and
long/short equity funds at Marshall Wace Asset Management and then GAM
Investments and will help us to attract assets and build our client base.

 

We will also broaden our fund offering in the first quarter of this year
through the launch of the GF Pan-European Dynamic Fund to be managed by the
Cashflow Solution team. This Fund will be managed using the same investment
process as the European Dynamic Fund, which is the best performing fund in its
IA sector over five years and is ranked second over three years.

 

Jeremy Roberts is a key appointment in enabling us to achieve the strategic
objective of broadening our distribution internationally. Jeremy has extensive
experience and knowledge having been Co-Head of EMEA Retail Sales and Head of
UK Retail Business at BlackRock and then Global Head of Distribution at GAM.
Jeremy will help us build our client relationships and partnerships in
Continental Europe and South America.

 

We have also strengthened our sales capability with the internal appointment
of Kristian Cook as Head of UK Distribution and bringing single strategy and
multi-asset sales into one team in the UK to enhance further the levels of
service we provide clients.  The new structure provides greater focus and
clarity of responsibilities and will broaden the product range for each
salesperson.

 

I look forward to this year with confidence. We are broadening our
distribution, driving forward sales and expanding our investment talent to
build on our robust investment processes and strong brand."

 

(1) Source: Financial Express to 31 December 2023, unless otherwise stated,
and Liontrust. See UK Retail Fund Performance table below for further details.

 

Mark Hawtin and Jeremy Roberts

 

Mark Hawtin has 37 years of investment experience and is currently an
Investment Director and leads the Global Growth Equity team at GAM
Investments. He is responsible for running global long only and long/short
funds investing in disruptive growth and technology. Prior to joining GAM in
2008, Mark was a partner and portfolio manager with Marshall Wace Asset
Management for eight years, including managing one of Europe's largest
technology, media and telecoms hedge funds. David Goodman, Kevin Kruczynski
and Pieran Maru, who work for Mark at GAM Investments, will also be joining
Liontrust.

 

Jeremy Roberts was Global Head of Distribution at GAM Investments. Prior to
joining GAM in 2020, he was Co-Head of EMEA Retail Sales and Head of UK Retail
Business at BlackRock. He has over 20 years of experience in the Investment
Management industry and has worked extensively with clients across the UK,
Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Jeremy will be responsible for further
developing our Global Distribution capability with an initial focus on
Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the Nordics, Iberia and Latin America, Benelux
and France.

 

Assets under management and advice

 

On 31 December 2023, our AuMA stood at £27,812 million and were broken down
by type and investment process as follows:

 

 Process                 Total   Institutional Accounts & Funds      Investment Trusts  UK Retail Funds & MPS      Alternative Funds  International Funds & Accounts
                         (£m)    (£m)                                (£m)               (£m)                       (£m)               (£m)
 Sustainable Investment  10,456  300                                 0                  9,673                      0                  483
 Economic Advantage      6,978   447                                 0                  6,352                      0                  179
 Multi-Asset             4,459   0                                   0                  4,309                      150                0
 Global Innovation       699     0                                   0                  699                        0                  0
 Cashflow Solution       1,753   539                                 0                  1,099                      109                6
 Global Fundamental      3,236   437                                 1,115              1,647                      0                  37
 Global Fixed Income     231     0                                   0                  45                         0                  186
 Total                   27,812  1,723                               1,115              23,824                     259                891

 

AuMA as at 12 January 2024 were £27,221 million.

 

Flows

 

The net outflows over the Period were £1,664 million (2022: £632 million). A
reconciliation of fund flows and AuMA over the Period is as follows:

 

                                    Total    Institutional Accounts & Funds      Investment Trusts  UK Retail Funds & MPS      Alternative Funds  International Funds & Accounts
                                    (£m)     (£m)                                (£m)               (£m)                       (£m)               (£m)

 Opening AuMA - 1 October 2023      27,650   1,932                               1,122              23,393                     292                911

 Net flows                          (1,664)  (131)                               (33)               (1,367)                    (49)               (84)

 Market and Investment performance  1,826    (78)                                26                 1,798                      16                 64

 Closing AuMA - 31 December 2023    27,812   1,723                               1,115              23,824                     259                891

 

UK Retail Fund Performance (Quartile ranking)

 

                                          Quartile ranking - Since Launch/Manager Appointed  Quartile ranking - 5 year  Quartile ranking - 3 year  Quartile ranking - 1 year  Launch Date/ Manager Appointed
 Economic Advantage funds
 Liontrust UK Growth Fund                 1                                                  2                          2                          4                          25/03/2009
 Liontrust Special Situations Fund        1                                                  2                          3                          3                          10/11/2005
 Liontrust UK Smaller Companies Fund      1                                                  1                          2                          3                          08/01/1998
 Liontrust UK Micro Cap Fund              1                                                  1                          1                          2                          09/03/2016
 Sustainable Future funds
 Liontrust SF Monthly Income Bond Fund    1                                                  1                          1                          1                          12/07/2010
 Liontrust SF Managed Growth Fund         2                                                  1                          3                          1                          19/02/2001
 Liontrust SF Corporate Bond Fund         1                                                  2                          2                          1                          20/08/2012
 Liontrust SF Cautious Managed Fund       1                                                  3                          4                          2                          23/07/2014
 Liontrust SF Defensive Managed Fund      1                                                  2                          4                          2                          23/07/2014
 Liontrust SF European Growth Fund        3                                                  4                          4                          4                          19/02/2001
 Liontrust SF Global Growth Fund          3                                                  1                          4                          2                          19/02/2001
 Liontrust SF Managed Fund                1                                                  1                          4                          1                          19/02/2001
 Liontrust UK Ethical Fund                3                                                  4                          4                          4                          01/12/2000
 Liontrust SF UK Growth Fund              3                                                  4                          4                          4                          19/02/2001
 Global Innovation funds
 Liontrust Global Dividend Fund           2                                                  1                          3                          1                          20/12/2012
 Liontrust Global Innovation Fund         1                                                  3                          4                          1                          31/12/2001
 Liontrust Global Technology Fund         2                                                  2                          1                          1                          15/12/2015
 Global Fundamental Global Equity funds
 Liontrust Balanced Fund                  1                                                  1                          3                          1                          31/12/1998
 Liontrust China Fund                     4                                                  4                          3                          3                          31/12/2004
 Liontrust Emerging Market Fund           3                                                  4                          4                          3                          30/09/2008
 Liontrust Global Smaller Companies Fund  1                                                  2                          4                          1                          01/07/2016
 Liontrust Global Alpha Fund              1                                                  1                          4                          1                          31/12/2001
 Liontrust India Fund                     4                                                  2                          1                          2                          29/12/2006
 Liontrust Japan Equity Fund              3                                                  1                          3                          3                          22/06/2015
 Liontrust Latin America Fund             3                                                  4                          4                          4                          03/12/2007
 Cashflow Solution funds
 Liontrust European Dynamic Fund          1                                                  1                          1                          1                          15/11/2006
 Global Fixed Income funds
 Liontrust Strategic Bond Fund            3                                                  3                          3                          2                          08/05/2018
 Global Fundamental funds
 Liontrust UK Equity Fund                 1                                                  3                          3                          1                          27/03/2003
 Liontrust UK Focus Fund                  1                                                  4                          3                          1                          29/09/2003
 Liontrust Income Fund                    1                                                  2                          2                          2                          31/12/2002
 Liontrust UK Equity Income Fund          2                                                  4                          4                          3                          19/12/2011
 Liontrust US Opportunities Fund          2                                                  2                          4                          3                          31/12/2002
 Edinburgh Investment Trust Plc           1                                                                             1                          1                          27/03/2020
 Liontrust Global Equity Fund             1                                                  1                          3                          1                          30/06/2014
 Liontrust Global Focus Fund              2                                                  2                          3                          2                          30/06/2014
 Liontrust GF US Equity Fund              2                                                  2                          2                          1                          26/06/2014
 Liontrust GF UK Equity Fund              4                                                  4                          3                          1                          03/03/2014
 Liontrust GF International Equity Fund   4                                                  -                          4                          4                          17/12/2019

 

Source: Financial Express to 31 December 2023 as at 4 January 2024, bid-bid,
total return, net of fees, based on primary share classes. Past performance is
not a guide to future performance, investments can result in total loss of
capital. The above funds are all UK authorised unit trusts, OEICs, Irish
authorised OEICs (primary share class) or UK listed investment trusts.
Liontrust Russia Fund is not included as it is currently suspended and in an
IA sector that is not rankable (e.g., Specialist) so it would not be a fair
comparison to make. The onshore and offshore Tortoise funds are not included
as they are not in IA sectors. Edinburgh Investment Trust Plc uses the IT UK
Equity Income sector.

 

For further information please contact:

 

Teneo (Tel: 020 7353 4200, Email: liontrust@teneo.com)

Tom Murray, Colette Cahill

 

Liontrust Asset Management Plc (Tel: 020 7412 1700, Website:
liontrust.co.uk)

Stephen Corbett: Head of Investor Relations

Simon Hildrey: Chief Marketing Officer

 

Singer Capital Markets (Tel: 020 7496 3000)

Corporate Broking: Charles Leigh-Pemberton

Corporate Finance: James Moat

 

Panmure Gordon (Tel: 020 7886 2500)

Corporate Broking: David Watkins

Corporate Advisory: Atholl Tweedie

 

HSBC Bank plc (Tel: 020 7991 8888)

Corporate Broking: Sam McLennan, James Hopton

Corporate Advisory: Alexander Paul

 

Forward Looking Statements

This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to
the financial condition, results of operations and businesses and plans of
Liontrust. These statements and forecasts involve risk and uncertainty because
they relate to events and depend upon circumstances that have not yet
occurred. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or
developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these
forward-looking statements and forecasts. As a result, the Liontrust's actual
future financial condition, results of operations and business and plans may
differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations expressed or implied
by these forward-looking statements.  Liontrust undertakes no obligation
publicly to update or revise forward-looking statements, except as may be
required by applicable law and regulation (including the Listing Rules of the
Financial Conduct Authority).  Nothing in this announcement should be
construed as a profit forecast or be relied upon as a guide to future
performance.

 

Other information

The release, publication, transmission or distribution of this announcement
in, into or from jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom may be restricted
by law and therefore persons in such jurisdictions into which this
announcement is released, published, transmitted or distributed should inform
themselves about and observe such restrictions. Any failure to comply with the
restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such
jurisdiction.

 

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