Jupiter to launch share class for wealth managers

Jupiter said it will target wealth managers with the launch of a new share class across its unit trust range.

CEO Edward Bonham Carter said the fund group will add the share class as part of plans to develop its distribution capabilities.

Jupiter will "launch I-classes across our unit trust range later this year to assist our penetration of wealth management channels", Bonham Carter said.

In its interim results, Jupiter reported pre-tax profit of £37.3m for the six months to 30 June, up from £14.6m a year earlier.

Underlying profit before tax was up 17% at £62.1m, while net debt fell to £36m, down from £62.7m as at 31 December 2010.

Assets under management rose from £24.1bn at the end of last year to £24.8bn at the end of June, with inflows of £700m slightly down from the £814m reported in the first six months of 2010.

The mutual fund business saw net inflows of £657m in the first half of 2011, more than offsetting a £150m drop due to market movements, to bring total AUM in the segment to £18.4bn.

Bonham Carter added demand for Jupiter's Merlin fund of funds products had helped compensate for the greater risk aversion seen among continental European investors at the end of the second quarter.

Net revenue rose from £111.7m in the first half of 2010 to £128.3 over the same period this year, performance the company said was due to a 15% rise in management fees following higher average FTSE 100 levels and the contribution from net inflows.

Jupiter said its private equity team left the company on 5 August, taking with them a segregated mandate worth around £90m, in a deal which will be "modestly earnings enhancing" after the payment of one-off management fees of £3.2m.

The company announced an interim dividend of 2.5p, following on from 2010's final dividend of 4.7p, although Bonham Carter warned of continuing market volatility.

"Significant uncertainty remains, particularly with regard to the dislocation in European sovereign debt markets and the path of debt reduction in developed economies in general," he said.

"Volatility in markets and lack of investor conviction may persist for some time."