Jupiter funds boost as investors recapture their taste for risk
ANALYSTS backed Jupiter Fund Management yesterday despite net outflows in the first three months of the year.
The firm reported a surprise £55m of new money into its mutual funds business in the quarter.
Assets under management hit £24.2bn at the end of March, up £1.4bn, or six per cent, compared to three months earlier as a rally in markets started to lead investors back to funds.
“The market bounce in early 2012 led to an improvement in the retail net flow environment during the quarter, with limited net inflows into equity funds in the UK and Europe for the first time in nearly six months,” said chief executive Edward Bonham Carter.
David McCann at Numis described Jupiter as a “core long term holding” while analysts at JP Morgan raised their price target for the stock after the inflows into the mutual funds business, which beat expectations.
Jupiter said, however, that it lost £113m of client money during the quarter after reporting previously flagged outflows from its segregated mandates and private clients businesses, which are much smaller than mutual funds.