Record PLC Reports Net Inflows and Stable AUM in Q4 Trading Update

Record PLC Q4 FY26 trading update: net inflows keep coming, but markets and FX knock AUM lower

Record PLC has put out a fourth quarter trading update that reads as steady rather than spectacular. The headline is that client demand stayed positive for a third quarter in a row, with net inflows of US$1.4bn in the three months to 31 March 2026.

The catch is that those inflows were fully offset by weaker asset movements and foreign exchange headwinds. Assets under management, or AUM – the money Record manages or advises on for clients – slipped from US$115.9bn at 31 December 2025 to US$114.6bn at year end.

So this is one of those updates where the underlying sales picture looks better than the top-line asset number suggests. For investors, that matters because inflows usually say more about client confidence in the business than short-term market swings do.

Key numbers from the Record PLC Q4 trading update

Metric	Q4 FY26 / 31 March 2026	Comparison
Total AUM	US$114.6bn	US$115.9bn at 31 December 2025
Net flows in the quarter	US$1.4bn	Positive
Asset movement impact	US$(1.4)bn	Negative
FX movement and scaling impact	US$(1.3)bn	Negative
Q4 performance fees	£0.4m	£0.3m in Q4 FY25
Full-year performance fees	£2.8m	£3.2m in FY25
Average fee rates	Broadly unchanged	Versus previous quarter
Full-year earnings expectations	Unchanged	Exact figure not disclosed

Why Record PLC AUM fell despite positive net inflows

This is the central point in the update. Record brought in US$1.4bn of net new business, which is good news, but then lost US$1.4bn from asset movements and another US$1.3bn from FX movement and scaling.

In plain English, clients added money, but the value of assets moved the wrong way and currency moves trimmed the reported AUM. That is not ideal, but it is also not the same thing as clients walking away.

For a specialist currency and asset manager like Record, FX can have a real effect on reported numbers. Investors should keep that distinction clear: weaker reported AUM caused by markets or exchange rates is usually less worrying than persistent net outflows.

Risk management remains the engine room of Record’s business

The product mix shows just how concentrated the business still is around risk management strategies. Risk Management AUM stood at US$109.8bn out of total AUM of US$114.6bn, so it remains the overwhelming core of the group.

Within that, Passive Hedging is by far the largest strategy at US$75.8bn, followed by Dynamic Hedging at US$17.0bn and Solutions for Asset Managers at US$17.0bn. That tells you where the company’s scale sits and where small changes can have the biggest impact.

Record PLC product-by-product AUM moves in Q4 FY26

• Passive Hedging: down from US$76.0bn to US$75.8bn. Net flows were positive at US$1.1bn, but asset movement of US$(0.2)bn and FX movement and scaling of US$(1.1)bn more than offset that.
• Dynamic Hedging: down from US$17.6bn to US$17.0bn. Net flows of US$0.1bn were outweighed by asset movement of US$(0.7)bn.
• Solutions for Asset Managers: down from US$17.4bn to US$17.0bn. Net flows were US$0.3bn, with asset movement of US$(0.5)bn and FX movement and scaling of US$(0.2)bn.
• FX Alpha: down from US$2.7bn to US$2.6bn on net flows of US$(0.1)bn.
• Absolute Return: down from US$3.8bn to US$3.7bn on net flows of US$(0.1)bn.
• Private Markets: unchanged at US$1.1bn.
• EM Local Debt: unchanged at US$1.0bn.
• Custom Opportunities: unchanged at US$0.8bn.
• Other: unchanged at US$0.3bn.
• Infrastructure: unchanged at US$0.1bn.

The positive read-through here is that Record is still attracting money into its biggest franchise. The less positive read-through is that some of the higher-alpha or return-seeking buckets, such as FX Alpha and Absolute Return, saw modest net outflows.

Performance fees and fee rates: reassuring, but not a knockout result

Performance fees are extra fees earned when a strategy hits agreed performance targets. Record said £0.4m of performance fees crystallised in Q4 FY26, up from £0.3m in Q4 FY25. Crystallised simply means the fee became payable in the quarter.

That is a nice improvement for the quarter, but the full-year picture is softer. FY26 performance fees were £2.8m, down from £3.2m in FY25.

Average fee rates were broadly unchanged from the previous quarter, which is an important little line in the statement. Stable fee rates suggest Record is not having to cut pricing to hold onto business, and that helps support the quality of revenues even if AUM is moving around.

Unchanged earnings expectations matter more than they might look

Management said full-year earnings expectations remain unchanged despite global macroeconomic and political volatility. That is probably the most reassuring sentence in the update.

Why? Because it says the board believes the business has traded in line with what the market was already expecting, even in a choppier backdrop. The exact earnings figure is not disclosed here, so investors will need to wait for the full-year results on 19 June 2026 for the detail.

What looks positive and what looks negative in this Record PLC update

The positives

• Third successive quarter of net inflows.
• Net flows were positive in the core Risk Management business.
• Average fee rates were broadly unchanged.
• Q4 performance fees improved year on year.
• Full-year earnings expectations were maintained.

The negatives

• Total AUM still fell to US$114.6bn from US$115.9bn.
• Asset movements and FX headwinds remain a real drag.
• Full-year performance fees were lower than FY25.
• FX Alpha and Absolute Return both saw net outflows in the quarter.

What retail investors should watch before the FY26 results

This update does not give revenue, profit, dividend or cash figures, so those are not disclosed yet. The next proper checkpoint is the full-year results on 19 June 2026.

Between now and then, the main question is whether Record can turn good flow momentum into stable or rising AUM. If markets calm down and FX headwinds ease, the recent run of inflows could start to show through more clearly in reported asset levels.

My take is that this is a quietly decent update. It is not flashy, and the lower AUM means nobody should overstate it, but three straight quarters of net inflows and unchanged earnings expectations are both signs of resilience. In this sort of market, steady can be valuable.