29 Apr 2019 07:00
29 April 2019
Nucleus Financial Group plc
('Nucleus' or the 'Company')
Q1 2019 AUA update
Nucleus (AIM: NUC), a leading independent wrap platform provider, today publishes an update on its assets under administration (AUA) in respect of the three month period to 31 March 2019.
The Company continues to grow AUA, which stood at £14.8bn as at 31 March 2019, up 9.1% over Q1 2018 and 6.3% on the previous quarter. By comparison, the FTSE All-Share Index grew by 2.2% over Q1 2018 and 8.3% over the quarter.
Highlights
- AUA increased to £14.8bn, up 9.1% over Q1 2018 and an increase of 6.3% on the previous quarter
- Gross inflows increased marginally against the prior quarter with momentum improving in the run up to the tax year end
- Advisers actively using the platform increased marginally to 1,376 over Q1 2018
- Customer numbers rose to 94,144, an increase of 5.3% over Q1 2018 and 0.5% over the previous quarter
- Further significant platform upgrade successfully completed in Q1
- Launch of new Junior Isa product and beta launch of Nucleus Go, an improved client portal
- Shortlisted for Money Marketing's Company of the Year and Best Platform 2019
AUA and inflows
| Quarter ended31 March 2019 | Quarter ended 31 December 2018 | Quarter ended31 March 2018 |
| £m | £m | £m |
Opening AUA | 13,884 | 14,693 | 13,577 |
Inflows | 466 | 462 | 665 |
Outflows | (332) | (277) | (254) |
Net flows | 134 | 185 | 411 |
Market movements | 735 | (994) | (461) |
Closing AUA | 14,753 | 13,884 | 13,527 |
Daily average AUA | 14,399 | 14,202 | 13,609 |
David Ferguson, Nucleus' founder and CEO, commented:
"It was pleasing to see AUA levels increase in excess of 9% year-on-year compared to a FTSE All-Share increase of 2.2% in the same period. Gross inflows steadied quarter-on-quarter, building momentum throughout the period, particularly in the run up to the tax year end."
"We completed a change to our technology and BPO services model in Q4 2018 with the intention that this will improve our change velocity and I'm pleased to report that Q1 has borne this out with a significant upgrade to the core platform software, the launch of our new Junior Isa product, and the beta launch of our new client portal, Nucleus 'Go' all successfully completed in the quarter. We also completed our Mifid II regulatory costs and charges disclosure after the reporting period in April 2019 and are looking forward to building on this change momentum throughout the year."
Historical flows and AUA data by quarter
| Q2 2016 | Q3 2016 | Q4 2016 | Q1 2017 | Q2 2017 | Q3 2017 | Q4 2017 | Q1 2018 | Q2 2018 | Q3 2018 | Q4 2018 | Q1 2019
|
| £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m |
Opening AUA | 9,386 | 9,800 | 10,659 | 11,144 | 11,897 | 12,401 | 12,889 | 13,577 | 13,527 | 14,339 | 14,693 | 13,884 |
Inflows | 458 | 434 | 507 | 653 | 671 | 687 | 597 | 665 | 600 | 563 | 462 | 466 |
Outflows | (248) | (203) | (214) | (225) | (249) | (261) | (205) | (254) | (285) | (281) | (277) | (332) |
Net flows | 210 | 231 | 293 | 428 | 422 | 426 | 392 | 411 | 315 | 282 | 185 | 134 |
Market movements | 204 | 628 | 192 | 325 | 82 | 62 | 296 | (461) | 497 | 72 | (994) | 735 |
Closing AUA | 9,800 | 10,659 | 11,144 | 11,897 | 12,401 | 12,889 | 13,577 | 13,527 | 14,339 | 14,693 | 13,884 | 14,753 |
Daily average AUA | 9,494 | 10,373 | 10,849 | 11,518 | 12,198 | 12,715 | 13,313 | 13,609 | 14,086 | 14,585 | 14,202 | 14,399 |
~ Ends ~
For further information please contact:
Nucleus
David Ferguson, CEO Tel: +44 (0)13 1226 9800
Stuart Geard, Chief Financial Officer
Shore Capital (Nominated Adviser and Broker)
Hugh Morgan Tel: +44 (0)20 7408 4090
Edward Mansfield
Daniel Bush
Camarco (Media enquiries)
Jennifer Renwick Tel: +44 (0)20 3757 4994
Jake Thomas
Notes to Editors
About Nucleus
Nucleus is a wrap platform founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage. It provides independent wrap platform services to 1,370 active adviser users and works with more than 870 financial adviser firms as at 31 March 2019. It is responsible for AUA of £14.8bn on behalf of more than 94,000 customers.
The multi award-winning platform offers a range of custody, trading, payment, reporting, fee-handling, research and integration services across a variety of tax wrappers and more than 6,500 asset choices including cash, OEICs, unit trusts, offshore funds, structured products and listed securities, including ETFs and investment trusts. The platform currently facilitates over 1.1 million customer account transactions on average per month.
Nucleus has won CoreData's 'Best medium sized platform' for 2018 (and the last seven years), the Schroders 'Platform of the Year' award for 2018 (and the last three years) and recently won 'Best Platform' and 'Platform Innovation' at the 2018 Money Marketing Awards.