London-listed money managers have started to reveal the extent of damage caused by recent global trade upheaval, as investors head for the exit amid widespread volatility.

St. James’s Place and Jupiter Fund Management joined peers in reporting a drop in assets under management, with each highlighting significant volatility in recent weeks.

US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs have wiped billions of dollars off the value of global stock markets and sparked substantial volatility in other asset classes.

While signs of retreat from the most disruptive aspects of White House trade policy have limited losses, investor confidence has been battered by a highly uncertain outlook.

Wealth manager SJP told investors its first-quarter managed assets fell by £1.4billion from the prior quarter amid tariff-linked volatility, with negative investment returns of £3.3billion during the period offsetting solid inflows.

Boss Mark FitzPatrick said ‘macroeconomic uncertainty and market volatility’ would continue to ‘create a challenging environment for savers and investors’.

He added: ‘Our advisers continue to help clients navigate these conditions and stay on track to achieve their long-term financial goals and aspirations.

‘We have a long history of net inflows during all phases of the economic cycle, and the quality of the Partnership and the strength of our advice-led business model positions us well for the future.’

Asset and wealth managers like SJP have braced for outflows and volatile markets in recent weeks

St James’s Place shares were down 0.6 per cent to 902p in early trading, having added 5.6 per cent since the start of the year. 

FTSE 250 Jupiter told investors its AUM had fallen by £1billion over the first quarter at around £44.3billionn, with net outflows and negative market movements costing the fund manager £500million each.

Jupiter managed to generated net positive inflows from big institutional investors of £1billion but this was offset by net outflows from retail clients of £1.5billion.

The group said: ‘Within the retail, wholesale and investment trusts channel, uncertainty around trade policies towards the end of the period added to an already challenging macro environment, negatively impacting client sentiment

‘Since the period end, we have seen significant moves across many global markets.

‘We have not seen any material change in client sentiment or flow activity to date since period end.

‘Although this market environment presents obvious challenges, increased volatility, higher dispersions of returns and a break-down in market correlations should, over the medium term, be a more favourable environment for high conviction, truly active management to evidence its value proposition. ‘

Jupiter Fund Management shares were down 2.7 per cent to 68.3p, having lost roughly 20 per cent since the start of the year. 

It echoes rival Quilter’s quarterly results on Wednesday that showed a roughly £3.6billion decline in assets between the end of March and 17 April.

Quilter boss Steven Levin warned that the decline would prove a headwind to full-year profitability if it is sustained.

Similarly, emerging markets specialist Ashmore earlier in April said it had seen net client outflows of $3.9billion during the first quarter after a flurry of withdrawals from large investors.

AJ Bell: Retail investors are still buyers

But fresh performance figures from investment platform AJ Bell suggests retail investors are yet to give up on the market.

The group reported a £7.5billion jump in AUM after securing net inflows of around £400milllion.

Its chief executive Michael Summersgill said ‘global trade tariffs and broader macroeconomic uncertainty have created significant market volatility’, which has led to increased direct-to-consumer trading activity.

However, Summersgill noted that three-quarters of these trade have been buys with net investment totalling more £300million.

It chimes with data from Calastone that showed ‘volatile stock markets failed to deter investors in March’, with UK buyers adding a net £1.38billion to equity funds for the best month of the year so far for the asset class.

AJ Bell’s Summersgill said: ‘Whilst recent volatility has impacted market levels, we have a proven track record of growing across different market conditions.

‘There remains a significant structural growth opportunity in the UK platform market and our well-diversified revenue model enables us to continue to invest in our propositions and brand to drive long-term growth.’

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