Schroders hit by client withdrawals from China

By Iain Withers

LONDON (Reuters) -British fund manager Schroders reported 7.4 billion pounds ($9.8 billion) of net outflows in the first quarter on Thursday, as customers withdrew cash from its joint venture funds in China.

Schroders said its flows were impacted by 8.5 billion pounds cashed out from its joint ventures in the three months to end-March, primarily from money market funds in China, where it operates two ventures with local bank Bank of Communications.

Analysts at JPMorgan called the first quarter performance "lacklustre", with its flows and the market performance of its funds falling short of the analysts' forecasts.

Schroders shares fell more than 3% in early trading and were last down 1.2% at 0720 GMT.

China has been at the centre of deteriorating global trade relations with the United States, although the quarterly figures pre-dated U.S. President Donald Trump's main barrage of tariffs on April 2.

Reuters reported last month that Schroders cut about one-sixth of staff at its separate fully-owned China fund manager, the latest global asset manager to trim operations in the country as it seeks to cut costs under new CEO Richard Oldfield.

Olfield unveiled a strategy update for the 221-year old firm in March aimed at rebooting its flagging performance, including by shedding 150 million pounds of costs and sharpening its focus on wealth management.

Schroders also reported total assets under management of 758.4 billion pounds at the end of March, down nearly 3% from the end of 2024.

The FTSE 100 firm said that excluding the joint venture withdrawals, it attracted 1.1 billion pounds of net inflows, driven by its wealth management arm and private markets business Schroders Capital.

($1 = 0.7523 pounds)

(Reporting by Iain Withers, Editing by Louise Heavens and Elaine Hardcastle)