Henderson funds hurt as savers stick to home soil

Political shockwaves triggered an exodus of cash from Henderson last year as bewildered investors shunned international fund picks for home-grown investments.

Henderson, which is due to merge with Janus Capital, bowed out with its final full year results as a London listed company with underwhelming figures showing £4.6 billion of retail cash walked out the door last year.

Lower demand for European funds after Brexit, plus shrinking American appetite for non-US funds in the wake of President’s Donald Trump’s election, spurred the outflows.

Chief executive Andrew Formica said last year’s “extraordinary” political turbulence” had caused a “shift from international to domestic”. “We saw a switch towards the captive players away from the independent players.

“In the US prior to the Trump vote you saw a strong move back towards domestic products away from international products and there’s been an acceleration of that since the election.”

Higher redemptions, particularly from its £4 billion property fund, which closed temporarily after Brexit, drove the shrinking retail investor base.

About £1 billion was pulled from UK funds, £2.6 billion from European funds and £1.1 billion from US funds.

Fuelling the outflows was poorer performance from Henderson’s funds, with 50% falling short of their targets. Formica said “clients don’t rely much on one-year short-term performance” and maintained 77% of Henderson funds were ahead of their target over three years.

Stronger demand from big institutional customers and booming stock markets cushioned the retail outflows, leading assets under management overall up 10% to £101 billion.

Henderson’s Janus merger is on track to finish in May. Janus Henderson Global Investors, will relist in New York, ending 33 years on the London market. Formica and Janus chief executive Dick Weil, who is moving from Janus’ Denver HQ, will be based side by side in London.