David Ferguson, founder and CEO of Nucleus

For the six months ended 30th June 2020, the firm’s assets under administration (AUA) increased 3.2% year-on-year to £15.8 billion compared to a FTSE All-Share Index reduction of 15.9%.

Nucleus’ operating expenses were in line with expectations, except for AUA related costs which were lower than expected on account of the first half market falls, as planned levels of investment were maintained.

A strong balance sheet was also retained with £18.7 million of cash, no borrowings and £11.2m of capital in excess of the 8% minimum regulatory capital requirement.

The firm also announced an interim dividend of 1.0p per share (H1 2019: 1.5p) equating to a payment of £0.8m.

David Ferguson, founder and CEO of Nucleus, commented: “COVID-19 has clearly impacted investor sentiment over the first half of the year but despite this, we recovered most of the Q1 market fall in AUA by the end of the period and grew assets by 3.2% year-on-year and net revenue by 0.7% over the same period.

“During this time we have focused on those elements within our control and as such we continue to invest in our proposition to ensure we meet the future needs of our users. On that note, I’d like to thank our people who have maintained stable operations, deployed several notable platform enhancements and completed the development and launch of Nucleus IMX, our new model portfolio service. IMX is rooted in a belief we can help customers achieve greater value for money and is therefore a natural extension to our strategy to create value through greater alignment of advisers and their customers.

“We expect good things from IMX over time and intend to continue investing in the development of our platform and service proposition for the long-term benefit of our users, their clients and our shareholders. While the impact of COVID-19 remains uncertain and continues to affect investor sentiment, customer numbers exceeded 100,000 after the period end, and trading has been in line with our post-COVID-19 expectations. I believe we are well positioned to win market share, grow our top line and expand our operating margin.”