(Nov 5): Schroders plc shares tumbled the most in more than four years after the firm reported £2.3 billion (RM12.99 billion) of quarterly outflows and warned of £10 billion more.

The largest standalone UK asset manager’s stock dropped as much as 14% in London trading, the biggest intraday decline since March 2020, extending losses from a September 2021 peak to more than 50%.

The redemptions and the dim outlook coming just days before Richard Oldfield is set to take over as CEO add to the challenges faced by Schroders. The firm has so far been resilient to pressures the active asset management industry has been grappling with, though analysts have criticised its relatively high cost base and slower organic growth in private markets.

The trading update flagged “some material pressure”, which means “estimates will suffer”, Panmure Liberum analysts led by Rae Maile wrote in a note.

Investors pulled an aggregate of £3 billion from the firm’s solutions and institutional divisions in the three months through September, Schroders said in a statement on Tuesday. The private markets and wealth management units saw net inflows of £1 billion each.

The company also warned it expects about £8 billion of outflows from a legacy mandate with Scottish Widows to hit its solutions business in the current quarter, as well as further losses from three institutional clients of about £2 billion. Total assets under management reached £777 billion.

Schroders “must build greater commercial discipline” and needs “simplification,” Oldfield said in the statement. The comments hint at cost-cutting measures to be unveiled, potentially at the company’s full-year results in March, RBC analyst Mandeep Jagpal wrote in a note to clients.

Oldfield, who joined Schroders last year as chief financial officer, is scheduled to take over as CEO from Peter Harrison on Nov 8. Oldfield previously spent more than two decades at PwC in several senior roles, including network vice chairman and global markets leader.

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