Schroders has reported an 8% fall in profits before tax and exceptional items to £701 million (€809 million) for 2019 despite record investor inflows which saw assets under management rise 23% to more than £500 billion for the first time.
The London-based firm said that it had generated total net new business of £42.4 billion with positive net inflows across all asset classes following the securing of a new mandate from Scottish Widows.
The firm also reported strong growth in its wealth management, private assets & alternatives and solutions businesses.
Chief executive Peter Harrison said: “Over the last few years we have been re-positioning our business behind a clear vision to move closer to our end clients through wealth management, expand our capabilities in private assets and grow our solutions business. Today, these business areas represent over half of our clients’ assets under management.”
“In the near term, Covid-19 is creating considerable uncertainty for economies and markets. We believe that our business resilience is sufficient to deal with this, but the impact on economies and markets will be highly correlated with how effective containment measures are,” he added.
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