Rensburg Sheppards’ confidence grows
WEALTH manager Rensburg Sheppards has increased its funds under management and is looking to the future with renewed confidence.
An interim management statement covering April 1 to July 29, admitted conditions remain challenging but suggested that confidence is returning to the world’s markets.
The group, which has offices in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds, saw funds under management increase by 8.4% to £10.85bn in the three months to June 30.
Rensburg said this growth rate compared favourably with rises of 3.9% and 9.5% in the FTSE APCIMS Private Investors Balanced and FTSE All-Share indices respectively.
This growth follows the year to March when market turmoil in the second half left Rensburg’s funds under management down by 22.7% to £10bn.
Although Rensburg sees signs of recovery its total net revenue for the three months to June 30 was down 18% on the same period last year, a figure which reflects the changes in the investment landscape.
Today the group said: “As confidence has revived equities have rallied and government bonds have fallen, in a reversal of the trends earlier in the year.”
It added: “Although the sustainability of this recovery is uncertain at present it is encouraging that consensus forecasts for economic contraction in 2009 have flattened off recently and 2010 is expected to see a modest bounce back.”
The group also said it had repaid £5.6m of its debt in May, reducing borrowing to £33.75m.
