Financial Planner Quilter has reported “strong” growth in assets under management and advice (AuMA) for the third quarter of 2019.

AuMA increased by 9% from 31 December 2018 to £118.7bn at the end of the third quarter.

The firm said the growth was supported by “positive market performance”.

Quilter had third quarter sales of £3bn a 12% drop on the prior year period, bringing the year-to-date gross figure to £9bn.

The firm said integrated net flows of £1.7bn year-to-date “continue to demonstrate the robustness of the Quilter business model”.

The results also highlighted: “Sale of Quilter Life Assurance to ReAssure for 120% of pro forma end 2018 own funds anticipated to close prior to year-end; an update on the prospective return of a meaningful portion of net sale proceeds to shareholders will be provided around this time.

“Net outflows of £2.3bn year to date in line with expectations.”

Paul Feeney, CEO of Quilter plc, said: “I am pleased that we have seen an 11% increase in AuMA from continuing operations over the course of 2019.

“As indicated earlier this year, we expected this year to be challenging for net client cash flows, reflecting an uncertain political and economic backdrop coupled with some Quilter-specific factors, in particular, the loss of a certain cohort of investment managers in Quilter Cheviot last year.

“Positively, gross flows within Quilter Cheviot in the third quarter were up year-on-year partially reflecting the contribution from recent investment manager hires.

“Notwithstanding the challenging backdrop, we continue to be encouraged by resilient gross flows and high levels of customer asset retention across our businesses which were broadly stable on 2018, excluding the impact of the Quilter Cheviot outflows.

“While near-term headwinds remain, this demonstrates that our clients and their advisers value Quilter’s integrated advice-led model, and this continues to provide support to our revenue and operating margin outlook.

“The integration of Lighthouse plc and Charles Derby Group are both progressing well and are expected to contribute more meaningfully to flows from next year.

“The Platform Transformation Programme continues to progress well, with the first migration planned for early 2020, in line with previous announcements.

“Together, this will help secure our goal of making Quilter the best place to go for trusted financial advice in the UK.”