Jupiter Fund Management suffered outflows worth £10bn in 2024, the firm announced this morning in its annual results.
Assets under management (AUM) fell below the consensus figure of £46.6bn to £45.3bn – a 13% decrease from the £52.2bn of the previous year. This was attributed to the departure of high-profile equity manager Ben Whitmore, which chipped away about £6.2bn, and the change in management of the Chrysalis investment trust.
Excluding the Whitmore and Chrysalis events, total net outflows amounted to £3.3bn, Jupiter reported.
Whitmore previously managed the Jupiter UK Special Situations fund (which had £2.1bn in AUM before he left), Jupiter Income Trust (£1.6bn), the Jupiter Global Value fund (£1bn) and Jupiter Global Value portfolio (£500m), as well as segregated mandates worth a further £4.8bn.
Whitmore has established Brickwood Asset Management with former colleagues Dermot Murphy, who co-managed the global value strategies, and Claudia Ripley, head of business development and strategy for Jupiter's value equities team. Brickwood launched its first fund this week.
Separately, Chrysalis' managers Richard Watts and Nick Williamson left Jupiter to set up an independent boutique and focus full time on the trust.
Jupiter's chief executive Matthew Beesley said: "Although we saw net outflows, these were predominantly driven by redemptions from strategies formerly managed by the value team, which are now complete. Short-term outflows inevitably follow management changes, but we are confident this sets us up well for long-term growth."
However, until flows turn more positive, it is difficult to see Jupiter shares making much headway, according to Peel Hunt analyst Stuart Duncan, who confirmed the stock as a 'hold' despite a few attractive points.
First of all, profits before tax came in ahead of expectations at £97.5m (down from 2023 levels of £105.2m), thanks to "significantly higher performance fees". Secondly, like many of its peers, Jupiter remains lowly valued, trading at a multiple of 4x while yielding approximately 5%, Duncan noted.
According to Beesley, the firm proved resilient despite a challenging backdrop.
"We have delivered on costs, demonstrating strong discipline in non-compensation costs. We have explored new methods of delivery, launching our first active exchange-traded fund (ETF), and have been awarded a Capital Markets Services licence in Singapore, allowing us access to the local mass affluent sector for the first time," he said.
"Although not all of these achievements can be seen in our financial results today, they all position Jupiter better for future growth."