26 Jul 2019 07:00
26 July 2019
Nucleus Financial Group plc
('Nucleus' or the 'Company')
Q2 2019 AUA update
Assets under administration increase 6.9%
Nucleus (AIM: NUC), a leading independent wrap platform provider, today publishes an update on its assets under administration (AUA) in respect of the three month period to 30 June 2019.
The Company continues to grow AUA, which stood at £15.3bn as at 30 June 2019, up 6.9% over Q2 2018 and 3.9% on the previous quarter. By comparison, the FTSE All-Share Index fell by 3.5% year-on-year and increased 2.0% over the quarter.
Highlights
- AUA increased to £15.3bn, up 6.9% year-on-year and an increase of 3.9% on the previous quarter
- Gross inflows increased for the second consecutive quarter and were up 4.7% on the previous quarter
- Advisers actively using the platform increased to 1,383, up 1.9% year-on-year
- Customer numbers rose to 95,657, an increase of 5.5% year-on-year and 1.6% over the previous quarter
- Continued investment in the core platform proposition in Q2 included:
o improved pensions and drawdown capabilities including automated phased drawdown;
o successful transition to a new stockbroking service bringing lower trading costs for clients, improved operational efficiencies and greater flexibility to improve future trading functionality; and
o regulatory compliance with new Mifid II statement of costs and charges.
- Awarded CoreData's 'Best medium sized platform 2019' - for the eighth successive year
AUA and inflows
Quarter ended30 June 2019 | Quarter ended 31 March 2019 | Quarter ended 30 June 2018 | H1 ended 30 June 2019 | H1 ended30 June 2018 | |
£m | £m | £m | £m | £m | |
Opening AUA | 14,753 | 13,884 | 13,527 | 13,884 | 13,577 |
Inflows | 488 | 466 | 600 | 955 | 1,265 |
Outflows | (377) | (332) | (285) | (709) | (539) |
Net flows | 111 | 134 | 315 | 246 | 726 |
Market movements | 468 | 735 | 497 | 1,202 | 36 |
Closing AUA | 15,332 | 14,753 | 14,339 | 15,332 | 14,339 |
Daily average AUA | 15,047 | 14,399 | 14,086 | 14,725 | 13,849 |
David Ferguson, Nucleus' founder and CEO, commented:
"Momentum in the business has continued in the second quarter with AUA increasing around 7% year-on-year compared to a FTSE All-Share decrease of 3.5% in the same period. Gross inflows increased by 4.7% on the previous quarter which is pleasing against a backdrop of unsettled market conditions driven by ongoing political and economic uncertainty, which is likely to continue into Q3, and we achieved our second consecutive quarter of improving gross inflows. Outflows remain higher than expected, primarily due to increased outflows from a small number of firms that have been acquired by consolidators.
"The change to our technology model in November 2018 increased our change velocity. In Q2 we have delivered a substantially improved pensions and drawdown capability, alongside a new stockbroking service that brings significantly reduced trading costs for clients, and completed our Mifid II regulatory costs and charges disclosure. Having delivered a number of propositional changes in the first half of the year, we intend to continue to build on this momentum with a series of further enhancements that will improve service delivery and operational resilience."
Historical flows and AUA data by quarter
Q3 2016 | Q4 2016 | Q1 2017 | Q2 2017 | Q3 2017 | Q4 2017 | Q1 2018 | Q2 2018 | Q3 2018 | Q4 2018 | Q1 2019
| Q2 2019 | |
£m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | |
Opening AUA | 9,800 | 10,659 | 11,144 | 11,897 | 12,401 | 12,889 | 13,577 | 13,527 | 14,339 | 14,693 | 13,884 | 14,753 |
Inflows | 434 | 507 | 653 | 671 | 687 | 597 | 665 | 600 | 563 | 462 | 466 | 488 |
Outflows | (203) | (214) | (225) | (249) | (261) | (205) | (254) | (285) | (281) | (277) | (332) | (377) |
Net flows | 231 | 293 | 428 | 422 | 426 | 392 | 411 | 315 | 282 | 185 | 134 | 111 |
Market movements | 628 | 192 | 325 | 82 | 62 | 296 | (461) | 497 | 72 | (994) | 735 | 468 |
Closing AUA | 10,659 | 11,144 | 11,897 | 12,401 | 12,889 | 13,577 | 13,527 | 14,339 | 14,693 | 13,884 | 14,753 | 15,332 |
Daily average AUA | 10,373 | 10,849 | 11,518 | 12,198 | 12,715 | 13,313 | 13,609 | 14,086 | 14,585 | 14,202 | 14,399 | 15,047 |
~ Ends ~
For further information please contact:
Nucleus
David Ferguson, CEO Tel: +44 (0)13 1226 9800
Stuart Geard, Chief Financial Officer
Shore Capital (Nominated Adviser and Broker)
Hugh Morgan Tel: +44 (0)20 7408 4090
Edward Mansfield
Daniel Bush
Camarco (Media enquiries)
Jennifer Renwick Tel: +44 (0)20 3757 4994
Jake Thomas
Notes to Editors
About Nucleus
Nucleus is a wrap platform founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage. It provides independent wrap platform services to 1,383 active adviser users and works with more than 870 financial adviser firms as at 30 June 2019. It is responsible for AUA of £15.3bn on behalf of more than 95,000 customers.
The multi award-winning platform offers a range of custody, trading, payment, reporting, fee-handling, research and integration services across a variety of tax wrappers and more than 6,500 asset choices including cash, OEICs, unit trusts, offshore funds, structured products and listed securities, including ETFs and investment trusts. The platform currently facilitates over 1.1 million customer account transactions on average per month.
Nucleus has won CoreData's 'Best medium sized platform' for 2019 (and the last eight years), the Schroders 'Platform of the Year' award for 2018 (and the last three years) and won 'Best Platform' and 'Platform Innovation' at the 2018 Money Marketing Awards.