British wealth manager Quilter's managed assets rise on strong net inflows

(Reuters) -British wealth manager Quilter's fourth-quarter managed assets beat market expectations after nearly 2 billion pounds ($2.46 billion) in net inflows from its wealthy clients, sending shares more than 6% higher on Wednesday.

The money manager said new business momentum remained strong in its High Net Worth segment, while overall business was solid despite higher outflows in October 2024 ahead of the Labour government's budget.

Clients moved and disposed of their assets ahead of the anticipated changes in capital gains tax and made higher generational wealth transfers for inheritance tax planning.

Quilter reported its strongest quarter of the year, which brought its core net inflows in 2024 as a whole to 5.2 billion pounds.

Shares of the FTSE midcap firm were up 6.3% at 169 pence in early trading, touching a near 5-year high.

On average, analysts had expected net inflows of 3.8 billion pounds in 2024, implying about 900 million pounds in the fourth quarter, according to a company-compiled consensus.

Analysts pegged Quilter's financial planning businesses division, Affluent, and its platform business as particularly strong performers, with 58% and 91% year-on-year net inflow increases respectively.

"We see the positive momentum in gross flows, supported by an acceleration in the Affluent business and the sharp increase in Adviser productivity, supporting the longer-term outlook," said analysts at Investec.

The London-based company reported assets under management and administration of 119.4 billion pounds at the end of December, up from 116.2 billion pounds at the end of September.

Analysts' expectations on average were for 118.5 billion pounds.

Peer Abrdn also said on Tuesday it had swung to quarterly inflows, with clients investing more cash with the British asset manager than they withdrew in the last few months of 2024.

($1 = 0.8121 pounds)

(Reporting by Yamini Kalia and Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Jan Harvey)