Liontrust Asset Management : Half Year Results

Embargoed until 0700 hours, Thursday 23 November 2017

Liontrust Asset Management Plc ("Liontrust", the "Company", or the "Group"), the independent fund management group, today announces its Half Yearly Report for the six months ended 30 September 2017.

• Adjusted profit before tax of £12.0 million (2016: £6.8 million), an increase of 76%

• Profit before tax of £3.6 million (2016: £2.2 million), an increase of 61%. This includes costs of £8.4 million (2016: £4.6 million) relating to the amortisation of the related intangible asset and other non-cash and non-recurring costs (see note 5 below)

• Revenues of £35 million (2016: £22 million), an increase of 57%.

  Dividend:

• First Interim dividend per share of 5.0 pence (2016: 4.0 pence), which will be payable on 12 January 2018, the shares going ex-dividend on 30 November 2017.

  Assets under management:

• On 30 September 2017, assets under management ("AuM") were £9.6 billion. The acquisition of Alliance Trust Investments Limited ("ATI") completed on 1 April 2017, adding £2.5 billion to AuM.

• Assets under management as at close of business on 21 November 2017 were £10.1 billion

  Flows:

• Net inflows for the period to 30 September 2017 of £178 million (2016: £92 million)

  MiFID II:

• Liontrust has decided that with effect from January 2018 the cost of external research will be absorbed by the Group. The estimated annualised impact of this change on the Group's revenues is expected to be £1.0 to £1.5 million

"Our assets under management are now in excess of £10 billion, with net inflows of £178 million in the first half of the financial year. This is a testament to the determination and talent that exists within Liontrust. I have said before that there are no quick routes to success, but by doing the basics as well as we can each day and paying strict adherence to our core beliefs and investment processes, we will succeed.

We have generated these net inflows despite the uncertainty caused by the ongoing Brexit negotiations and the fact UK All Companies has been the worst selling sector by net retail flows in seven of the past 13 months to the end of September 2017, according to the IA. It shows the resilience of investor demand for active fund management with proven long-term track records and robust investment processes despite a challenging environment.

This is demonstrated by Anthony Cross, who celebrates 20 years of active fund management at Liontrust at the start of next year. He has run the UK Smaller Companies Fund since 8 January 1998. From launch, the Fund has returned 1,121% against 282% by the FTSE Small Cap (ex IT) Index and 612% by the average fund in the IA UK Smaller Companies sector1.

The Liontrust Sustainable Investment team has bedded in well in the first six months, with assets growing and performance strong across its range of funds. Sustainable investing is grabbing a lot of headlines, and with our team having critical mass and a long track record this puts us in an enviable position to benefit from the growth.

The success of our approach to managing money and the business is reflected in the independent recognition we have received this year. We have won three industry awards in recent months for Specialist Group of the Year, while Special Situations, European Growth and GF European Strategic Equity have won individual fund awards.

In the first quarter of 2018, we will further diversify our fund management capability through David Roberts and Phil Milburn joining from Kames. David and Phil are very highly regarded fixed income fund managers with excellent long-term performance records.

They will add to the experienced and talented group of fund management teams that we already have at Liontrust. We trust our fund managers and provide the environment to enable them to focus on running money and not get distracted by day-to-day aspects of running a business. Having documented investment processes also provides greater predictability of how our funds will be managed and what are likely to be the more challenging market environments for them.

We are in great shape after a successful 2017 and I look forward with optimism, safe in the knowledge that we have the skill and dedication within the business to continue our growth."

1 Source: Financial Express, total return (income reinvested and net of fees), bid to bid, since launch (8 January 1998) to 31 October 2017, based on primary share class.

Corporate Broking - Alex Reynolds, Nicholas Harland

Digitalisation has been transforming communications and the speed at which information spreads around the world. We live in a world in which the news cycle moves at an ever increasing pace and people want instant responses to and views of events.

It is vital that we embrace digitalisation to enhance our business and better service our clients and investors. It is equally important that we retain our core values and focus on what has made us successful. We take a long-term approach to managing money at Liontrust, with each team applying their distinct investment processes to running funds and portfolios and not getting distracted by the increasing levels of market noise that is a feature of our 24-hour news cycle.

We continually face many other opportunities and challenges, whether it is through political or economic uncertainty, regulatory developments or changing competitors. Like our fund managers, it is key that we as a company focus on what is in our power to control and determine.

The success of Liontrust's approach is shown by the strong set of results for the first half of our financial year. We have grown our revenue, profits and dividend. This has been driven by the continued increase in our AuM, which has gone through £10 billion since the end of September. We are also further diversifying our fund management capability, with the addition of the Liontrust Sustainable Investment team from Alliance Trust Investments in April 2017 along with David Roberts and Phil Milburn joining from Kames in January 2018.

Sophia Tickell is a strong addition for Liontrust, joining the Board on 1 October 2017 as an Independent Non-executive Director. She brings vast and valuable experience, having worked with asset managers for more than 15 years as well as in other sectors and on academic and charitable boards.

I would like to thank our shareholders, investors and staff for all their support and loyalty to Liontrust. We are in a very strong position to continue to expand and grow the business.

Results

Adjusted profit before tax was £12.002 million (2016: £6.838 million). Adjusted profit before tax is disclosed in order to give shareholders an indication of the profitability of the Group excluding non-cash (depreciation, intangible asset amortisation and share incentivisation related) expenses and non-recurring (professional fees relating to acquisition, cost reduction, restructuring, share incentivisation and severance compensation related) expenses ("Adjustments"), see note 5 below for a reconciliation of adjusted profit (or loss) before tax.

Profit before tax is £3.344 million (2016: £2.245 million).

Dividend

In accordance with the Company's dividend policy, the Board is declaring a First Interim dividend of 5.0 pence per share (2016: 4.0 pence) which will be payable on 12 January 2018 to shareholders who are on the register as at 1 December 2017, the shares going ex-dividend on 30 November 2017.

The Company has a Dividend Reinvestment Plan ("DRIP") that allows shareholders to reinvest dividends to purchase additional shares in the Company. For shareholders to apply the proceeds of this and future dividends to the DRIP, application forms must be received by the Company's Registrars by no later than 15 December 2017. Existing participants in the DRIP will automatically have the dividend reinvested. Details on the DRIP can be obtained from Link Asset Services on 0371 664 0381 or at www.signalshares.com. (Calls are charged at the standard geographic rate

and will vary by provider. Calls outside the United Kingdom will be charged at the applicable international rate. Lines are open between 09:00 - 17:30, Monday to Friday excluding public holidays in England and Wales).

Funds under Management

On 30 September 2017, our AuM stood at £9,640 million and were broken down by type and process as follows:-

On 21 November 2017, our AuM was £10.126 billion.

Funds Flows

The net inflows over the six months to 30 September 2017 are £178 million (2016: £92 million). A reconciliation of fund flows and AuM over the half year is as follows:-

Fund Performance (Quartile ranking)