Liontrust Asset Management today announces its Half Year Report for the six months ended 30 September 2021. Highlights include:
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Profit before tax of £31.1 million (2020: £6.9 million), an increase of 352% compared to the equivalent period last year.
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First Interim dividend per share of 22.0 pence (2020: 11.0 pence), an increase of 100% compared to the equivalent payment last year.
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Net inflows for the six months ended 30 September 2021 of £2.1 billion (2020: £1.7 billion), an increase of 19% compared to the equivalent period last year.
Commenting on the results, Chief Executive John Ions said:
“Liontrust has delivered another strong six months of sales and financial performance. Our net inflows of £1 billion and above for each of the last three quarters demonstrate the excellence of our investment teams, long-term performance, distribution, communications and power of the brand.
We have maintained this momentum into the new quarter of our financial year, with Liontrust’s AuMA reaching £36.5 billion on 26 November.
The latest industry sales statistics reiterate Liontrust’s continued success. In the third quarter of 2021, Liontrust had the second highest net retail sales in the UK (source: Pridham Report). The same report showed that Liontrust had the fifth highest gross retail sales in the UK over the same three-month period.
Liontrust has gained further independent recognition through another two prestigious awards that cover different distribution channels. First, Liontrust was named Asset Manager of the Year at the Financial News Awards, a publication for institutional investors. We have continued to make progress in the institutional market and are seeking to build our business further among these investors. We also won the Best Fund Group of the Year Award at the Shares Awards, which are voted for by private investors who read Shares magazine.
These follow Liontrust winning the Global Group of the Year Award at Investment Week’s Fund Manager of the Year Awards in the summer. This magazine is read by wealth managers and financial advisers and reiterates the growing strength and breadth of our distribution and brand across all these channels.
Over the past six months, we have moved from virtual communications to being able to have face-to-face meetings with clients again. This has enabled us to present our Multi-Asset proposition at physical events for the first time since we acquired the Architas UK Investment Business last year.
We have been holding a Liontrust roadshow, the World Market Review (“WMR”), around the UK and taken part with three other asset managers in the Multi-Manager Forum this autumn. So far, with the WMR continuing, we have presented to around 450 advisers.
Last week, the Liontrust Sustainable Investment team, whose AuMA now exceeds £13 billion, held a client event reviewing COP26 and what the outcomes mean for investors. One thing COP26 has reiterated is the vital role asset management has to play in allocating capital to great businesses with the innovation and technology to help us tackle massive challenges like climate change.
Asset management can also benefit the wider society through democratising savings and community engagement. We have a responsibility to enable as many people as possible to boost their savings and future prospects by making investments as simple to understand and as easy to access as possible.
Even with the return of physical events, Liontrust continues to develop and expand our communications with investors and our capability of delivering these digitally to different audiences. We have generated 66,000 views for our recent investment videos, for example, and have seen a 77% increase in website traffic from the third quarter in 2020 to the third quarter in 2021.
Our continued successful progress over the past six months is thanks to the hard work of everyone at Liontrust and the loyalty of our clients and investors. Liontrust is well positioned to maintain the momentum into the future as we seek to broaden sales across distribution channels.”
