Record Assets Under Management Up But Client Numbers Flat

LONDON (Alliance News) - Currency manager Record PLC on Friday said it assets under management equivalent ticked up in the fourth quarter of its financial year, as client numbers remained flat.

Record said its assets under management equivalent at the end of March was USD53.7 billion, up from USD53.5 billion at the end of December. Passive hedging assets grew in the quarter, offsetting declines in dynamic hedging and currency for return assets.

At the end of the quarter, Record had 58 clients on its books, flat on December.

Record said its US clients benefited from dynamic hedging programmes controlling hedging losses in the quarter amid US dollar weakness, while its UK clients got the same benefits amid sterling weakening.

"Expectations of divergence in monetary policy, and in particular of further US interest rate rises, weakened during the quarter. In addition the effectiveness of monetary policy measures such as quantitative easing in Japan and the Eurozone on exchange rates has become less evident. This environment has led to less clear-cut trends, and consequently we are seeing a wide divergence of views amongst investors as to their preferences in managing currency risk and opportunity," said Chief Executive James Wood-Collins.

Wood-Collins added the UK's upcoming vote on its membership of the European Union, taking place on June 23, has contributed to an uncertain outlook for sterling.

"In this respect, our focus will be to anticipate periods of market turbulence and elevated volatility and to manage the impact of these on our clients," he added.

Shares in Record were down 0.2% to 26.19 pence Friday.

By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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