Liontrust outflows hit £1.6bn as further job cuts planned

Liontrust Asset Management saw net outflows of £1.6bn during the three months ending 31 December 2024.

In a trading update released today (15 January), the specialist independent fund management group also said assets under management and advice (AuMA) fell 5.3% to £24.6bn as of 31 December 2024.

It is also planning to make “a small number” of job cuts, in addition to the 25 it announced in November 2024.

Liontrust chief executive officer John Ions said: “Liontrust and other active managers are still facing external headwinds, but we believe the impact will lessen over the course of 2025. The group continues to make good progress towards our strategic objectives and there is increasingly strong fund performance.

“Net outflows during the fourth quarter of 2024 were significantly concentrated in October at around 50% of the total, mirroring the broader UK funds industry that experienced its third worst month on record ahead of the chancellor’s Autumn Budget.”

However, according to Ions, there are reasons to believe the market is entering a more positive period for active investors.

He said: “There is currently an extreme concentration of the mega caps in the US market, which is at its highest level for a century. Any broadening of returns from equity markets, greater focus on valuations and lower index returns going forward will present opportunities for price discovery among active investors.”

Ions added that Liontrust is “seeing stronger performance across its investment teams” and referred to the European Dynamic Fund, the UK Equity and UK Focus funds in particular.

Liontrust has also received approval from the Financial Conduct Authority to adopt the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) ‘Sustainability Focus’ label for all 10 of the UK-domiciled funds managed by the Sustainable Investment team.

Together, they have a total of £8.5bn in AuMA.

Ions added: “Improving trust and transparency of sustainable investment funds will play a key role in clients’ decision making. Clients will benefit from Liontrust having one of the broadest fund ranges with SDR labels, comprising equity, fixed income and managed funds.”