Jupiter hikes capital returns

The fund manager also continued to diversify its asset mix away from equities. Inflows into its absolute return, India, and distribution unit trusts meant 13 of its funds had assets of more than £1bn under management. Fixed income investments accounted for more than a quarter of assets under management at £13.4bn, which chief executive Maarten Slendebroek believes is partly because they tend to be more popular in European locations suh as Spain and Italy, both of which performed particularly well last year. However, this change in product mix also meant the net management fee declined by two basis points to 0.85 per cent. That’s because fixed income products typically attract management fees of between 70 and 80 basis points, compared with 90 and 100 basis points for equity investments.

Analysts at Peel Hunt expect adjusted pre-tax profit of £217m during the year to December 2018, giving EPS of 37.9p (from £193m and 34.2p in 2017).