In a trading update issued ahead of its annual general meeting today (7 May), the group said total operating income for the three months to 31 March reached £240.7 million, up from £220.1m in the same period last year. The performance modestly exceeded analyst consensus expectations and reflected stronger market levels relative to early 2025.

Fee income provided the bulk of the uplift, rising 10.8% to £151.9m, while net interest income jumped 44.1% to £23.2m, helped by a reclassification of income previously generated from Investec Wealth & Investment client money deposits.

Commissions grew 10.7% to £26.9m and fees from advisory services, including financial planning, trust and tax, increased 8.2% to £15.9m. Other income fell sharply, by 81.2%, to £1.3m.

Funds under management and administration closed the quarter at £113.6 billion, down from £115.6bn at the end of December 2025. The wealth management segment held £105.2bn, while the asset management arm managed £15.7bn on a gross basis, equivalent to £8.4bn once intra-group holdings are excluded.

Adverse market and investment performance reduced overall asset values by £1.14bn during the quarter.

Total net outflows were £0.8bn, in line with the comparable period a year earlier. Wealth management recorded net outflows of £0.4bn, of which £0.2bn related to execution-only services, while asset management saw outflows of £0.4bn on a consolidated basis.

Within asset management, single strategy funds were the principal drag, shedding £0.3bn on a net basis, whereas multi-asset funds attracted modest net inflows of £57m.

Group chief executive Jonathan Sorrell said underlying flows in the wealth proposition continued to stabilise against a volatile market backdrop, with wealth flows broadly flat once execution-only services and an estimated £0.2bn of withdrawals linked to the October 2024 Budget were stripped out.

He added: “We remain focused on executing our strategy with discipline and consistency of purpose as we pursue our ambition to be the best wealth manager in the UK, by far.”

Interim results are scheduled for 29 July 2026.