Liontrust Asset Management (LSE:LIO), the specialist active asset manager, reported assets under management and advice (AuMA) of £24.1 billion as at 30 September, in a trading update covering the three months to that date.
Net outflows for the quarter came to £459 million, down from £1.2 billion in the same three months last year. AuMA eased slightly to £24.0 billion by 16 October.
The quarter's flow reconciliation shows institutional accounts bringing in £209 million of net inflows, offset by £666 million of net outflows from UK retail funds and model portfolio services, with investment trusts and international funds broadly flat to modestly positive.
Twenty-eight funds and investment trusts sat in the first or second quartile of their sectors over three years, based on Financial Express data to 30 September.
Liontrust announced on 30 September the proposed acquisition of the fund management and model portfolio services business of Hawksmoor Fund Management and Hawksmoor Investment Services, a deal expected to add approximately £1.9 billion of AuMA once it completes, which the company said should happen by the end of December.
The Hawksmoor business will sit within Liontrust's multi-asset capabilities, adding the Vanbrugh and Distribution funds alongside new adviser relationships and strategic partnerships.
"We are encouraged by the improvement in investment performance over the past six months and the progress we are making in enhancing distribution, both internationally and in the UK," said chief executive John Ions.
He added that net outflows between April and September were "significantly lower" than in the first half of the prior financial year.
Ions pointed to the integration of River Global, after the deal completed in June, as evidence that combining outside investment teams with Liontrust's distribution and operating platform can work, citing the River UK Micro Cap board's decision to reappoint Liontrust as investment manager and client engagement on a recent roadshow for the Global Income and Growth Fund.
Liontrust will report half-year results for the six months to 30 September on Thursday 19 November.