Schroders posts FY profit beat on asset gains; shares rise

* Pretax profit up 23 pct to 760.2 mln stg, beats forecasts

* Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) assets up 13 pct on market, inflows, deals

* Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) up 5.2 pct to lead FTSE 100 index (Adds detail from statement, analyst reaction, share reaction)

By Simon Jessop

LONDON, March 1 (Reuters) - Asset manager Schroders posted a forecast-beating 23 percent rise in full-year pretax profit after market gains, acquisitions and inflows of new client money boosted total funds, sending its shares higher.

Schroders (Frankfurt: 929969 - news) , one of Britain's biggest fund managers, has spent recent years diversifying its range of products and geographic reach and said the policy had helped drive a 13 percent rise in assets to a record 447 billion pounds ($615.5 billion).

That pushed revenue past 2 billion pounds and produced pretax profit in the year to the end of December of 760.2 million pounds, beating analysts' mean consensus forecast of 728.5 million pounds, Thomson Reuters (Dusseldorf: TOC.DU - news) data showed.

The growth underpinned a 22 percent increase in the full-year dividend to 113 pence a share, again beating forecasts.

The company, which traces its roots to 1804 and the financing of trade between Europe and North America, offers fund and wealth management services to retail and institutional clients across all continents.

"It's a strong set of results with all bits of our diversified model firing on all cylinders," Chief Executive Peter Harrison told Reuters, citing strong performance in areas such as China, Malaysia, Peru and Argentina.

Looking ahead, he said the company would continue to look to attract more increasingly wealthy clients in emerging markets, as well as expanding its offering of private asset investments and bespoke services to institutional clients.

"I see lots of areas for new product opportunities... (including) private assets, which is 30-40 percent of the asset management fee pie and we've barely started on that yet."

In response, shares in Schroders were up 4 percent at 3,585 pence a share at 0826 GMT, leading gainers in a weaker FTSE 100 .

"Schroders posted better than expected results across most operating metrics," KBW analyst Jonathan Richards said in a note to clients flagging an 'outperform' rating and 3,900 pence price target.

"With (Other OTC: WWTH - news) 74 percent of assets under management ahead of benchmark over the important 3-year period, we believe Schroders is well positioned to win new business going forward," he said.

The performance of Schroders mirrors a rise in assets at rival managers including Man Group (LSE: EMG.L - news) and Jupiter Fund Management this week.

Investment gains over the year were 31.6 billion pounds while net inflows were 9.6 billion pounds, it said. A further 8.5 billion pounds was brought in through acquisitions, including that of Swiss private equity firm Adveq.

However, a stronger pound in the second half of the year reduced assets by 12 billion pounds, it added.

Among deals completed in 2017 were the acquisition of Swiss private equity company Adveq and UK wealth management firm C.Hoare & Co.

($1 = 0.7263 pounds) (Reporting by Simon Jessop, editing by Sinead Cruise and David Evans)