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UK asset manager Rover plans to cut jobs across the company after last year's poor investment performance, as the industry faces rising costs and pressure on profits.
The London-based boutique, which employs about 330 people and was co-founded by millionaire philanthropist Jonathan Rover, is cutting about 20 jobs, including in its private clients and risk teams.
“We have made the necessary changes to best serve existing and new clients in a rapidly evolving industry landscape,” the company said. “There have been no changes in senior management or investment leadership.”
The cuts come after a difficult time for the company, with Rover himself noting in a letter to investors that 2023 was a “down” year. “A lot of things that were supposed to go down went up, and a few — just a few — things that were supposed to go down,” he said.
He added: “We really made a mistake last year, but that made us look again at what we are doing.”
The company's fund managers took a bearish view of equity markets, taking a defensive stance through investments in long-term inflation-linked bonds, while betting against growth stocks through short positions.
Jonathan Rover said inflation “will eventually prove to be a near-permanent condition in the Western world”, but the firm's strategy has weighed on the funds' performance recently as stock markets have risen.
The firm's flagship total return fund, which manages £2.3bn, has fallen 6.4 per cent over the past year, according to the company's fact sheet, while the FTSE All-Share index has risen more than 2.5 per cent. Over 10 years, it generated a total return of 46.5 percent compared to its peer group average of 32.5 percent, according to Citywire.
Its £1bn investment fund has also had a difficult 2023, with fund managers noting that last year was “the worst in the history of the Ruffer Investment Company”.
Ruffer, which manages around £22bn for institutions and private clients, was in the spotlight last year over its ties to fund manager Crispin Oddi, who has been facing allegations of assault or harassment from women, which he strongly denies.
Odey was among Rover's early backers, while Rover initially used the offices of Odey Asset Management on Upper Grosvenor Street in London's Mayfair. Jonathan Rover was also a member of the Board of Directors of Odey Asset Management until 2002.
As part of the company's succession planning, Rover restructured its business last year, indicating at the time that it was preparing for the eventual retirement of its founder.
The restructuring means that Ruffer Management Limited – through which Ruffer's founders and original investors including some members of the Odey family derive income – will no longer be a controlling entity in the Ruffer limited liability partnership. Ruffer said at the time that there was “no connection between Crispin Odey and the management or oversight of Ruffer LLP.”
