Martin Gilbert’s AssetCo announced that Campbell Fleming has decided to step down as chief executive officer “after overseeing the formation of the company, completing a series of acquisitions and guiding their integration.”
AssetCo said: “Campbell is leaving for personal reasons and his last day with the company will be 30 June 2023.
“Consistent with the holding company nature of AssetCo’s business, the company will not be replacing Campbell directly.
“Martin Gilbert and Gary Marshall will instead assume his principal responsibilities, with Martin as executive chairman being responsible for the overall strategic direction of the group and Gary overseeing day-to-day operations as CFOO.
“Alex Hoctor-Duncan, CEO of AssetCo’s principal operating company, River and Mercantile, is already taking on additional responsibilities as the group’s active equities businesses integrate under that brand (as previously announced).
“This process is expected to continue as the group moves towards delivering on its growth plans.”
Gilbert said: “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Campbell for his contribution to the development of AssetCo.
“The board and I are grateful to Campbell for his efforts and hope to continue our long association with him in supporting and guiding some of our underlying businesses.”
Fleming said: “It was the right business and personal decision to step down after an extremely demanding 20 months integrating the group and as I now look to pursue additional non-executive roles.
“I will continue to support, as well as remain a shareholder of, AssetCo as I believe in its strategy, team and its people who continue to deliver for our clients as shown by our results.”
On June 14, Gilbert admitted that AssetCo “remains materially behind plan” amid “gloom” in the fund industry and that “we remain behind where we want to be in terms of asset growth.”
Gilbert said the six months ended March 31, 2023, saw “a period of unrelenting market pressure” and that AssetCo’s group of companies “generally suffered outflows over the period, when inflows had been the expectation.”
AssetCo reported that its assets under management rose to £13.8 billion in the six months to March 31, up from £9.9 billion at the same stage of the prior year.
However, excluding assets at its Parmenion business, AssetCo reported £3.26 billion under management.
For the six months, AssetCo said revenue rose to £8.3 million from £1.3 million and the group reported a loss before taxation of £13.8 million, including £11.7 million of administrative expenses.