The impact of Covid-19 on fund manager M&G included net outflows from its retail business.
Retail outflows were blamed for the overall £6.6 billion (€7.6 billion) outflows in 2020 from M&G’s savings and asset management segment, which compared to £1.3 billion the year before.
Retail outflows had failed to counter institutional inflows of £5.1 billion, the figures showed.
However, thanks mainly to the acquisition of Ascentric, a wealth manager, M&G’s assets under management and administration increased to £367.2 billion – up from £351.5 billion at the end of the previous year.
John Foley, chief executive, said corporate performance had been “strong and resilient” and that the foundations for M&G’s return to growth had been laid.
These foundations included “action to fix retail asset management” and the creation of M&G wealth following the Ascentric acquisition.
The firm highlighted opportunities ahead with the launch of a sustainable private assets capability and a strong pipeline of money from a sustainable version of the PruFund called PruFund Planet.
The results – which come at the end of M&G’s first year of independence from Prudential insurance company – show adjusted operating profit before tax was down to £788 million from £1.15 billion in 2019.
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