Brewin Q3 assets drop 8% as acquisition by RBC on track
Funds under management fell 8.2% for wealth manager and Financial Planner Brewin Dolphin in Q3 as its acquisition by RBC Wealth Management remains on track to complete this autumn.
Fund under management at 30 June were £51.7bn (Q2: £56.3bn).
Discretionary funds fell 8.5% to £45.2bn.
Brewin Dolphin said the decrease in funds was the result of a negative investment performance of £4.7bn, due to the ongoing ‘volatile and weak market performance and macroeconomic environment’.
The MSCI WMA Private Investor Balanced Index fell by 7.4% during the quarter.
Total income decreased 5.7% year-on-year to £97.9m.
Year-to-date total income was £307.4m, a 1.2% increase year-on-year.
Financial Planning income grew by 5.6% to £11.3m, driven by demand for ongoing Financial Planning advice.
The wealth manager and Financial Planner reported total net flows of £0.1bn, largely flat year-on-year. Included in this were £0.2bn of outflows in discretionary and execution only relating to the exit of a low-margin charity client.
Gross discretionary inflows for the quarter were £0.6bn, taking the firm to £2.5bn for the year to date (FY2021: £2.9bn). Half of these inflows were through the firm’s MPS/Voyager investment solutions.
Total discretionary income fell by 6.1% to £80.5m.
Robin Beer, CEO at Brewin Dolphin, said: “While the recent market weakness has impacted our results in the third quarter, I am pleased that year to date we have achieved £2.5bn of gross discretionary inflows. The strength of our gross inflows demonstrates continuing demand for advice and our ability to capture new clients, especially during market uncertainty.
“We are in the final stage of switching over to our new custody and settlement system, which is to take place at the end of summer. We continue to see increased demand for our propositions and investment solutions, and we are well placed to capture the secular growth trends in the market."
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) launched a recommended bid to acquire Brewin Dolphin for £1.6bn at the end of March.
In May Brewin Dolphin shareholders approved the Scheme of Arrangement at a court meeting and passed a special resolution at a general shareholders meeting.
Completion of the acquisition remains subject to regulatory approval but is on track to complete by the end of autumn this year.