FUM at Rathbone top £15bn

17th Feb 2011 07:03

Total funds under management (FUM) exceeded £15bn for the first time ever at wealth management firm Rathbone Brothers last year.Underlying profit before tax in 2010 rose 18.8% to £38.5m from £32.4m in 2009, topping the consensus market forecast of £35.55m.This was despite the company having to stump up £3.6m for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) for, in the words of the company's chairman, Mark Powell, "what appears to be mis-management in a different part of the financial sector over which Rathbones has no control or influence.""The bulk of this sum [the FSCS levy] is in respect of the failure of Keydata and other financial services companies regulated by the FSA but in a different sector of the market from Rathbones," grumbled Powell.Total FUM at the end of the year stood at £15.63bn, up 19.3% from £13.10bn at the end of 2009.FUM at Rathbone Unit Trust Management rose 10.6% to £1.04bn at the end of 2010 from £0.94bn at the end of the previous year. The total net annual growth rate for Rathbone Investment Management was 10.2%, down from 12.5% the year before, The 2010 growth comprised £0.60bn of acquired inflows of funds under management (2009: £0.55bn) and £0.64bn of net organic growth (2009: £0.63bn), representing an underlying annual net organic growth rate of 5.3% (2009: 6.7%).Net operating income in Rathbone Investment Management of £114.7m for the year ended 31 December 2010 (2009: £104.3m) represents an increase of 10.0%.Low yields on treasury assets meant that net interest and other income in Rathbone Investment Management virtually halved to £10.0m from £19.8m in 2009.A final dividend of 28.0p has been recommended, up from 26.0p last year, making the total dividend in respect of 2010 44.0p."The continuing turbulence in the financial markets indicates that 2011 will bring more uncertainty, but as the steps taken by the coalition government to reduce the fiscal deficit combine with the relative attraction of equities compared with low yielding government and corporate bonds, this makes us cautiously optimistic about the future," Powell said.