Asset and wealth manager profit forecasts fall by up to 39%

Peel Hunt research

Profit forecasts for asset and wealth managers have been downgraded by as much as 39% for the financial year ahead as "very few" look resilient to market pressures, according to an analyst note on the sector by Peel Hunt.

The stockbroker pointed to the difficult final quarter of 2018 for the sector, leading it to curb full-year forecasts downwards from between 6%, for Brooks Macdonald, and 38.6% for Charles Stanley, which it said had a lower level of operating margin and profitability. Brewin Dolphin was also downgraded, by 25.6%, as was Rathbones, albeit to a lesser extent, by 11.7% over the year. In the listed asset management space, Jupiter, Polar Capital and Miton saw relative earnings per share (EPS) downgraded by 22.1%, 20.4% and 19.9%, respectively. Flows had also suffered, with Peel Hunt ana...