(Alliance News) -Â Charles Stanley Group PLC on Thursday posted a solid end to a "resilient" financial year, with funds under management and administration increasing during its fourth quarter.
Total FuMA stood at GBP25.6 billion at the end of March, up 2.0% on GBP25.1 billion at the end of December.
This increase reflected positive market performance, which added GBP500 million to funds and compares favourably to a 1.6% increase in the MSCI PIMFA Private Investor Balanced Index over the same period, Charles Stanley noted.
Gross inflows matched gross outflows, the wealth manager added, meaning the change in FuMA was entirely due to the market performance.
"The group's average FuMA over the financial year to 31 March 2021 was GBP23.2 billion, a decrease of 4.1% from GBP24.2 billion over the prior financial year, and reflected the stressed market conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic," said Charles Stanley.
Total revenue for the financial year that ended March 31 remained relatively stable around GBP171.2 million, versus GBP173.0 million the prior year. Underlying this, fee income rose 3.2% and commission income by 1.5%, "substantially offsetting" a 69% slump reduction in interest income due to lower base rates.
"Charles Stanley has delivered a notably resilient performance since the onset of Covid-19 just over a year ago. Revenues have held up well across all divisions, supported by our focus on excellent client service, and costs have been well controlled," said Chief Executive Paul Abberley.
"We are cautiously optimistic that the worst of the pandemic is behind us and we expect to make further progress in the year ahead."
Shares in Charles Stanley were up 3.3% at 312.00 pence in London on Thursday.
By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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