Ashmore Group PLC on Thursday said assets under management declined by $9.0 billion over its third quarter due to market volatility as a result of the conflict in Ukraine.

The London-based emerging markets asset manager said assets under management fell 10% to $78.3 billion at the end of March from $87.3 billion at the end of December.

The FTSE 250 company explained that this reflects a negative investment performance of $5 billion and $3.7 billion of net outflows.

It blamed the performance on lower market levels in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ‘some institutional rebalancing.’

‘The war in Ukraine is a humanitarian tragedy that will have far-reaching consequences for the existing world order. The shock is likely to weigh on investor sentiment in the short term,’ Chief Executive Mark Coombs commented.

Ashmore noted that its investment performance was positive in equities and alternatives, in absolute terms.

The company recorded an increase of 13% in alternatives assets under management to $1.7 billion at the end of March from $1.5 billion at the end of 2021.

Looking ahead, the emerging markets asset manager emphasised it is well-positioned to understand and act upon current market volatility.

‘The principal economic impact of the war has been to push inflation higher and this is being felt across the world. Importantly, against the inflationary backdrop, central banks in emerging markets have been raising interest rates for the past year, and China is in a position to ease policy, whereas developed world banks have only just started to react with modestly higher rates. As trade and political relationships are reorganised in the coming years, portfolio diversification will be increasingly important and this will benefit emerging countries, in which investors are typically underweight,’ CEO Mark Coombs continued.

Shares in Ashmore were down 2.0% at 222.70 pence each on Thursday morning in London.

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