6 January 2021

Nucleus Financial Group plc

('Nucleus' or the 'Company')

Q4 2020 AUA update

Assets under administration increase 8.1% on previous quarter to £17.4bn

Nucleus (AIM: NUC), a leading independent wrap platform provider, today publishes an update on its assets under administration (AUA) in respect of the three months to 31 December 2020.

Despite the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on investor sentiment and market growth, the Company continues to increase AUA, which rose to £17.4bn at 31 December 2020, up 8.1% on the previous quarter and 7.9% year-on-year. By comparison, the FTSE All-Share Index increased 11.9% on the last quarter and fell by 12.5% year-on-year.

Highlights

-       AUA increased to £17.4bn, an increase of 8.1% on the previous quarter and up 7.9% year-on-year.

-       Gross inflows of £492m were achieved in Q4, a 31.9% increase on the previous quarter (Q3 2020: £373m) as sentiment continued to improve.

-       Outflows from the platform in Q4 2020 fell by 17.4% compared to Q4 2019 and were down by 22.8% for the full year  2020 compared to 2019.

-       Net inflows for Q4 2020 increased by 35.9% against Q4 2019 to £208m and were up 42.0% year-on-year in 2020 despite the Covid-19-induced slowdown in activity over the spring and summer.

-       Advisers actively using the platform increased by 3.9% in Q4 2020 compared to the previous quarter and new firm momentum continued with the signing of a new enterprise relationship agreement with an adviser network.

-       Customer numbers increased by 4.3% year-on-year to over 101,000, and the Company achieved its highest-ever net promoter score.

-       Continued investment in the platform saw the introduction of new and enhanced products and features, including new model portfolio service Nucleus IMX, which enjoyed a successful soft launch period in Q4 2020 and will be promoted across the wider audience from January 2021.

-       Acquisition of the business and assets of OpenWealth as they pertain to Nucleus, which is expected to give the Company greater operational control and allow Nucleus to accelerate margin expansion as AUA grows.

-       Awarded CoreData's 'Best medium platform' award for 2020, achieved a 5-star service rating at the Financial Adviser Service Awards and a highly-commended second place in Schroders' platform of the year.

AUA and inflows

David Ferguson, Nucleus' founder and CEO, commented:

"2020 will be remembered forever. In this company we'll remember it for the encouraging recovery in net flows in the last quarter, for the product improvements (including the launch of our new model portfolio service, Nucleus IMX) and for achieving our highest-ever net promoter score, all against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic which altered all our lives and working patterns. It'll also be remembered for the transformational acquisition of the business and assets of OpenWealth as they pertain to Nucleus, which gives us greater operational control and is expected to drive further product and service improvements, all while accelerating our operating margin expansion as we grow AUA."

"Following a great start to the year and given the month-on-month improvement in net inflows since the summer (December alone exceeded all of Q3), our springtime decision to continue investing through the pandemic has allowed us to enter 2021 with great momentum, albeit remaining cognisant of the ongoing uncertainty in the external environment."

Historical flows and AUA data by quarter

~ Ends ~

For further information please contact:

Nucleus           

David Ferguson, CEO                                                     Tel: +44 (0)13 1226 9800

Stuart Geard, Chief Financial Officer       

Shore Capital (Nominated Adviser and Broker)         

Hugh Morgan                                                                   Tel: +44 (0)20 7408 4090

Edward Mansfield               

Daniel Bush 

Camarco (Media enquiries)    

Jennifer Renwick                                                             Tel: +44 (0)20 3757 4994

Jake Thomas    
Notes to Editors

About Nucleus

Nucleus is a wrap platform founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.  It provides independent wrap platform services to over 1,400 active adviser users and works with more than 880 financial adviser firms as at 31 December 2020. It is responsible for AUA of £17.4bn on behalf of more than 101,000 customers.

The multi award-winning platform offers a range of custody, trading, payment, reporting, fee-handling, research and integration services across a variety of tax wrappers and more than 6,500 asset choices including cash, OEICs, unit trusts, offshore funds, structured products and listed securities, including ETFs and investment trusts. The platform currently facilitates over 1.1 million customer account transactions on average per month.

Nucleus has been awarded CoreData's 'Best medium sized platform' for 2020 (and the last nine years). It has also been awarded a 5-star service rating at the 2020 and 2019 Financial Adviser Awards, the Schroders 'Platform of the Year' award for 2016, 2017 and 2018 and won 'Best Platform' and 'Platform Innovation' at the 2018 Money Marketing Awards.