Market turmoil hits AUM at Jupiter

(Sharecast News) - Jupiter Fund Management saw assets under management decrease by £1bn in the last quarter, the firm said on Thursday, rocked by market turmoil. Updating on the three months to March end, the FTSE 250 fund manager said group AUM closed the quarter at £44.3bn. Net outflows were £0.5bn, while negative market movements were £0.5bn.

Jupiter's institutional channel generated net positive inflows of £1bn. However, that was offset by net outflows from retail clients of £1.5bn.

Jupiter said: "Within the retail, wholesale and investment trust channels, uncertainty around trade policies towards the end of the period added to an already challenging macro environment, negatively impacting client sentiment."

Donald Trump announced plans to impose a range of tariffs on countries worldwide shortly after taking office in January.

The swingeing regime came into effect this month, causing chaos across global markets as the world edged towards an all-out trade war.

Looking to the rest of the year, Jupiter acknowledged there had been "elevated market volatility" across asset classes since the period end, as a result of the trade policies.

It continued: "We have remained focused on what we can control, and have stayed close to our clients through this period.

"Our investment strategies are performing as we would expect in this environment, and our clients' positioning has remained disciplined and consistent with long-term investing."

Estimated AUM was £43bn as at 22 April.

However, Jupiter added: "Although this market environment presents obvious challenges, increased volatility, higher dispersions of returns and a breakdown in market correlations should, over the medium term, be a more favourable environment for high conviction, true active management to evidence its value proposition.

"We also see early-stage evidence of asset owners and other investors looking to relocate away from the US and towards other markets, such as the UK, Europe and Asia Pacific."

As at 1000 BST, shares in Jupiter were down 2% at 68.89p.