AIM-listed asset manager River and Mercantile, a firm which hit the headlines this year when Martin Gilbert took a stake in the business, today released an update regarding the six and 12 months to 30 June 2021.

According to a statement from the firm, it has performed ‘strongly’ as 92 percent of funds and strategies by AUM outperformed relevant benchmarks over the last 12 months and overall AUM increased £3.4 billion.

This performance comes in the face of massive upheaval in the industry due to a CMA review into the £190 billion fiduciary industry in the UK whereby every fiduciary mandate had to be retendered.

River and Mercantile said in a statement: “The initial element of the CMA order concluded on 9 June and we have fared well in an unprecedented period for the Fiduciary industry: we have retendered almost the entirety of our AUM in a relatively short period.

“Since the beginning of the retendering process, we have retained nearly ninety per cent of relevant AUM and in addition over the last year we have won 12 new clients over the year delivering a combined £4.9 billion of assets that have transitioned or are in the process of being transitioned and the pipeline of new opportunities is strong.”

Given this difficult environment the firm managed to increase gross wholesale sales by 180 percent in the 12 months to 30 June 2021 and improved net sales by £0.6 billion on a year-on-year basis. The firm said that the wholesale pipeline is ‘well positioned’ for the coming period.

Other key metrics included fee earning AUM increasing by 7.7 percent during the year to £47.6 billion. gross sales were £4.3 billion with net sales at £1.4 billion but figures for the 12 months to 30 June.

James Barham, group chief executive said: "The investments we have made in Wholesale and Institutional distribution, alongside the deepening and broadening of our investment capabilities have delivered earlier than anticipated. Wholesale distribution improved strongly with net positive sales of £0.6 billion compared to the previous year and we have had a successful CMA retendering process retaining 90 percent  of relevant clients' assets through the process and we have won 12 new clients during the period with total assets including assets in transition totalling £4.9 billion. This, combined with strong investment performance, positions the Group very well for continued strong growth over the coming years."