Jupiter full-year pretax profit up as assets, fees increase

By Simon Jessop

LONDON (Reuters) - British asset manager Jupiter Fund Management on Tuesday posted a 13 percent rise in full-year pretax profit, after inflows and market gains helped boost the company's assets under management by almost a quarter to 50.2 billion pounds.

Jupiter, most famous for its UK-focused funds for individual investors- adverts for which are emblazoned across London's buses and taxis- has sought in recent years to expand into continental Europe and court institutional investors to diversify revenues.

"All regions contributed to our net inflows in 2017, with the offices in Italy and Spain exceeding our expectations for the year," Chief Executive Maarten Slendebroek said in a statement.

"The increase in our AUM in 2017 should translate into a good start for the business in the next financial year."

The jump in assets under management was largely driven by inflows into its fixed income funds, Jupiter said in a statement, although it also saw good demand for other asset classes.

The rise in assets meant Jupiter saw an increase in the management fees it charges annually to investors for managing their money - its primary measure of revenue - to 392.4 million pounds from 330.2 million pounds.

Pretax profit in the year to the end of December was 192.9 million pounds, up from the prior year's 171.4 million pounds but lagging a company supplied analyst consensus forecast for 195.7 million pounds.

(Reporting by Simon Jessop, editing by Sinead Cruise)