Shares in UK asset manager Liontrust (LON:LIO) leapt on news the outflow of funds had slowed in the latest quarter. The company said it would release a fuller trading update for the three months to 30 June on 22 July.
Shift in flows
From the start of April 2026 to date, Liontrust registered total net outflows of £276 million. While not ideal, that marked a slowdown from the £836 million of outflows it suffered in the previous quarter.
Moreover, gross institutional inflows this quarter have topped £500 million. CEO John Ions put the improvement down to the expansion of the firm’s international distribution capacility and a broader client base.
‘This reflects the significant development at Liontrust over the past couple of years, and strategies such as Cashflow Solution benefiting from both strong performance and client diversification’, added Ions.
Meanwhile, the company confirmed the acquisition of River Global Holdings would complete on 30 June. RGH’s current assets under management and administration are arund £3 billion compared with Liontrust’s £21.4 billion.
Commentators have been predicting the demise of active management for several years due to the strong performance of passive funds. It’s no surprise therefore that Liontrust shares, among others, have been languishing at decade lows.
The downside with passive funds is they have increasingly become a one-way bet on technology stocks. The more the stocks go up, the more the funds buy, so there is no ‘price discovery’.
What sets active managers apart is the ability to avoid crowded trades and find ‘alpha’ elsewhere. To wit, Liontrust’s European and global equity strategies as well as its multi-assets funds and strategies have delivered strong performances.
Read the press release here: https://www.liontrust.com/investor-relations
