LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Ashmore Group reported a 2% rise in assets under management in its first quarter on Tuesday, supported by strong investment performance and improving investor sentiment towards emerging markets.
The FTSE 250 specialist emerging markets asset manager said total assets under management increased to $48.7bn as of 30 September, up from $47.6bn three months earlier.

It said the $1.1bn increase comprised $1.4bn of positive investment performance and $0.3bn of net outflows.

Fixed income assets rose to $39.1bn from $38.5bn, while equities grew to $7.8bn from $7.5bn and alternatives increased to $1.8bn from $1.6bn.

Within fixed income, external debt assets were stable at $7.2bn, while local currency and corporate debt both expanded.

Ashmore said net flows continued to improve through higher subscriptions and fewer redemptions, with net inflows in local currency, equity and alternative strategies offset by institutional outflows in external debt early in the quarter.

Overall, the group's globally managed strategies recorded a net inflow.

"Emerging markets continue to perform strongly, which, along with Ashmore's alpha delivery for clients, is leading to broad client engagement and increasing momentum across the business," said chief executive Mark Coombs.

"This has led to a further improvement in net flows this quarter.

"Given the positive emerging markets backdrop, evident risks to investors' overweight positions in the US, and Ashmore's continued investment outperformance, the group is well-positioned to capture additional flows as investors increasingly look to shift allocations away from the US including into emerging markets."

Ashmore said emerging market fixed income indices rose between 3% and 5% during the quarter, while equity benchmarks returned about 10%.

The group said its active management approach continued to generate outperformance across both fixed income and equity strategies.

At 0936 BST, shares in Ashmore Group were up 0.61% at 181.2p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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