Perpetual AUM falls by $8.3bn in March quarter

Perpetual's total assets under management (AUM) declined by $8.3 billion to $219.2 billion in the March quarter.

The decrease was due to unfavourable currency movements of $3.6 billion, net outflows of $2.8 billion and negative market movements of $1.9 billion.

"In asset management, our assets under management were impacted by a stronger Australian dollar relative to US and UK currencies, declining markets, and net outflows," Perpetual chief executive and managing director Bernard Reilly said.

"We reported net outflows of $2.8 billion (or $4.9 billion, excluding cash), a moderation from the previous quarter, mainly driven by outflows in the J O Hambro and Barrow Hanley boutiques."

Embattled J O Hambro saw a decline of 10.6% in its AUM to $30.9 billion. Net outflows were largely in the global opportunities strategy at $1.3 billion, the international and global select strategies ($700 million) and the UK equity income strategy ($200 million).

Barrow Hanley's AUM declined by 2.8% to $85.2 billion. Net outflows were predominantly in global and US strategies.

"J O Hambro experienced outflows in global strategies, due to a client rebalancing its portfolio across managers and investment underperformance in its select strategies, while Barrow Hanley experienced outflows in its global and US strategies," Reilly said.

He added Perpetual's Australian boutiques continued to perform well, both reporting net inflows for the quarter in Australian equities, cash, and fixed income strategies.

Pendal Asset Management AUM was up 2.7% supported by net inflows of $2.2 billion.

"All our teams remain focused on delivering investment outperformance for our clients through these turbulent times. We believe we are well placed in this period of volatility to strengthen our investment performance, particularly in our value-style strategies," Reilly said.

Perpetual also reaffirmed its total expense growth guidance for FY26 of approximately 1% to 2% for the year.

Reilly added he was pleased to have announced the sale of Perpetual's wealth management business to Bain Capital, which was announced in March.

"Subject to the satisfaction of conditions precedent, the sale is expected to complete later this calendar year, and we are progressing the various activities to prepare for the business of completion," he said.