Premier Miton looks to merger benefits

That all-share deal, which awarded a 38 per cent premium to Miton shareholders, has created a diversified investment firm with £11.1bn of assets under management (AuM). For Premier, growing that figure on its own was proving tough: in the 12 months to September, redemptions outpaced inflows, which alongside a second consecutive year of flat performance left AuM down by 4.5 per cent to £6.56bn.

Management sought to blame this on an “unsettled” political and market backdrop, and suggested that many UK investors simply put off their decision-making amid Brexit-linked uncertainty. But the performance of the group’s funds has been fading. On a three-year basis, just 57 per cent of its core mandates beat their median sector peers, down from 94 per cent on a decade-long view.

For investors, the hope is that marrying this multi-asset franchise with Miton’s single-strategy funds, will arrest the slide. Numis analysts – whose view of the combination as a “complementary fit” should be seen alongside the brokerage’s role as financial adviser, nominated adviser and joint corporate broker on the deal – expect earnings of 13.3p per share for the current financial year to September 2020, rising to 15.6p in FY2021.