By Simon Jessop
LONDON (Reuters) - Emerging markets-focused fund manager Ashmore posted on Thursday a 3.8 percent increase in assets under management on the back of net inflows and said the outlook was positive.
Total assets at the end of December were $76.7 billion (59.6 billion pounds), the London-listed firm said in a statement, buoyed by $2.4 billion in new funds from both institutional and retail clients.
Revenues rose 13 percent due to higher management fee income, but pretax profit fell 6 percent on the back of mark-to-market losses from new funds it had seeded with its own money.
Chief Executive Mark Coombs said the outlook for 2019 was positive after a "respectable operating performance" in the opening six months of its financial year.
"The emerging markets are in good health with high GDP growth, low inflation, attractive valuations and, after a slight pause in allocations at the end of 2018, there is renewed momentum in capital flows," he said.
Coombs, the major shareholder in Ashmore with around 39 percent, also said he planned to sell down his share over the medium term by selling up to 4 percent into the market each year, but was "fully committed" to the company.
(Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Edmund Blair)
